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North  Carolina  Library 


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ERNEST  HAYWOOD  LIBRARY 

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Edmund  Burke  Haywood,  1843-46 

Ernest  Haywood,  '80 

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A    RECORD 


PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  ALUMNI  ASSOCIATION 


University  of  North  Carolina 


Centennial  Celebration 


ACT  OF  INCORPORATION, 


BEING    AN   ACCOUNT   OF   THE 


Alumni  Banquet  and  the  Alumni  Class  Reunions, 


JUNE  5,  1889 


Haec  olim  meminisse  juvabit. 


PUBLISHED  BY  THE  ALUMNI  ASSOCIATION 


RALEIGH,    N.  C: 

Edwards  &  Broughton,  Power  Printers  and  Binders. 

1890. 


INTRODUCTION. 


At  the  Annual  Commencement  of  the  University 
in  June,  1888,  a  resolution  was  adopted  by  the 
Alumni  Association  to  celebrate  the  centennial 
anniversary  of  the  incorporation  of  the  institution, 
and  a  committee  was  appointed  to  make  suitable 
arrangements  on  the  part  of  the  Alumni  for  such 
celebration  at  the  Commencement  of  1889.  The 
members  of  this  Committee  were  Hon.  Walter 
Clark,  W.  J.  Peele,  Esq.,  and  Ernest  Haywood, 
Esq. 

Soon  afterwards,  a  committee  on  the  part  of  the 
Faculty,  appointed  to  co-operate  with  the  Alumni, 
was  authorized  to  arrange  all  the  details  of  the 
celebration,  under  the  advice  and  direction  of  the 
Alumni  Committee.  Circular  letters  were  sent  to 
every  alumnus  whose  address  was  known,  and 
extensive  advertisement  was  made  through  the 
press,  to  whom  the  committee  feel  much  indebted 
for  repeated  courtesies. 


2? 

^0 


iv  Introduction. 

This  volume  is  a  record  of  the  proceedings  of 
the  Alumni  at  the  celebration,  and  contains  all  the 
speeches,  with  one  or  two  exceptions,  made  at  the 
class  reunions  in  Memorial  Hall  and  at  the 
Alumni  Banquet  in  Gerrard  Hall.  It  has  been 
thought  proper,  also,  to  insert  the  Act  of  Incorpora- 
tion. In  addition  to  the  proceedings  published 
herein,  the  celebration  was  intended  to  include  two 
orations  by  Hon.  M.  W.  Ransom  and  Hon.  Z.  B. 
Vance,  botli  Alumni  of  the  University.  Prostra- 
tion from  over-work  made  it  impossible  for  Senator 
Vance  to  accept  the  invitation,  although  for  several 
months  he  had  hoped  that  it  might  be  otherwise. 
Senator  Ransom  promptly  accepted  the  invitation, 
but  a  few  days  before  the  celebration  the  breaking 
of  his  arm  by  an  unfortunate  fall  prevented  his 
attendance.  The  celebration  was  thus  deprived  of 
two  of  its  most  brilliant  speakers.  The  committee 
regret  their  inability  to  obtain  from  Senator  Ran- 
som a  copy  of  his  oration  for  publication  in  this 
volume.  Other  speeches  are  omitted  for  similar 
reasons.  The  committee  did  not  feel  authorized  to 
change,  essentially,  the  phraseology  or  the  sentiment 


Introduction.  v 

of  the  speeches  herein  published.  Other  historical 
matter,  besides  the  proceedings  of  the  Alumni,  has 
been  published,  as  a  part  of  the  centennial  cele- 
bration, in  a  separate  volume  containing  "  Sketches 
of  the  History  of  the  University,  together  with  a 
Catalogue  of  the  Officers  and  Students,"  from  the 
beginning  to  1889.  Copies  of  that  volume,  as  well 
as  of  this,  may  be  obtained  from  the  Bursar  of 
the  University. 

JOHN  xMANNING, 
GEORGE  T.  WINSTON, 
F.  P.  VENABLE, 

Committee  of  Publication. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE. 

Introduction i-ii 

Act  of  Incorporation,  1789 1 

Alumni  Banquet  and  Speeches 10 

Exercises  of  the  Class  of  1879,  Decennial  Reunion 113 

Exercises  of  the  Class  of  1868,  Twenty-first  Annual  Re- 
union  123 

Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes ...    .  _     139 

List  of  Alumni  Present  at  the  Centennial  Reunion   ... 239 


ACT  OF  INCORPORATION. 


AN    ACT    TO    ESTABLISH    A   UNIVERSITY   IN    THIS   STATE, 
(Passed  by  the  General  Assembly  at  the  Session  of  1789.) 


Whereas,  In  all  well  regulated  governments  it  is 
the  indispensable  duty  of  every  Legislature  to  con- 
sult the  happiness  of  a  rising  generation,  and  en- 
deavor to  fit  them  for  an  honorable  discharge  of  the 
social  duties  of  life  by  paying  the  strictest  attention 
to  their  education;  and 

Whereas,  A  University,  supported  by  permanent 
funds  and  well  endowed,  would  have  the  most  direct 
tendency  to  answer  the  above  purpose : 

I.  Be  it  therefore  enacted  by  the  General  Assembly  of 
the  State  of  North  Carolina,  and  it  is  hereby  enacted 
by  the  authority  of  the  same,  That  Samuel  Johnston, 
James  Iredell,  Charles  Johnson,  Hugh  Williamson. 
Stephen  Cabarrus,  Richard  Dobbs  Spaight,  William 
Blount,  Benjamin  Williams,  John  Sitgreaves,  Fred- 
erick Hargett,  Robert  W.  Snead,  Archibald  Maclaine. 
Honorable  Samuel  Ashe,  Robert  Dixon,  Benjamin 
Smith,  Honorable  Samuel  Spencer,  John  Hay,  James 


'2  Act  of  Incorporation. 

Hogg,  Henry  William  Harrington.  William  Barry 
Grove,  Reverend  Samuel  McCorkle,  Adlai  Osborne. 
•John  Stokes.  John  Hamilton,  Joseph  Graham,  Hon- 
orable John  Williams,  Thomas  Person,  Alfred  Moore. 
Alexander  Mebane.  Joel  Lane,  Willie  Jones,  Benja- 
min Hawkins,  John  Haywood,  senior.  John  Macon. 
William  Richardson  Davie,  Joseph  Dixon.  William 
Lenoir.  Joseph  McDowell,  James  Holland,  and  Wil- 
liam Porter.  Esquires,  shall  be  and  they  are  hereby 
declared  to  be  a  body  politic  and  corporate,  to  be 
known  and  distinguished  by  the  name  of  "The 
Trustees  of  the  University  of  North  Carolina."*  and 
by  that  name  shall  have  perpetual  succession,  and  a 
common  seal:  and  that  they,  the  Trustees  and  their 
successors,  b.v  the  name  aforesaid,  or  a  majority  of 
them,  shall  lie  able  and  capable  in  law  to  take 
demand,  receive  and  possess  all  moneys,  goods  and 
chattels  that  shall  be  given  them,  for  the  use  of  the 
said  University,  and  the  same  apply  according  to  the 
will  of  the  donors,  and  by  gift,  purchase  or  devise 
to  take,  have,  receive,  possess,  enjoy  and  retain  to 
them  and  their  successors  forever,  any  lands,  rents, 
tenements  and  hereditaments,  of  what  kind,  nature 
or  quality  soever  the  same  may  be,  in  special  trust 
and  confidence,  that  the  same  or  the  profits  thereof 


The  corporate  name  has  been   changed    to  "The   University  oi 
North  Carolina." 


Act  of  Incorporation.  3 

shall  be  applied  to  and  for  the  use  and  purposes  of 
establishing  and  endowing  the  said  University. 

II.  And  be  it  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid,  That 
the  said  Trustees  and  their  successors,  or  a  majority 
of  them,  by  the  name  aforesaid,  shall  be  able  and 
capable  in  law  to  bargain,  sell,  grant,  demise,  alien 
or  dispose  of,  and  convey  and  assure  to  the  purchasers, 
any  such  lands,  rents,  tenements  and  hereditaments 
aforesaid,  when  the  condition  of  the  grant  to  them, 
or  the  will  of  the  devisor,  does  not  forbid  it.  And 
further,  that  they,  the  said  Trustees  and  their  suc- 
cessors forever,  or  a  majority  of  them,  shall  be  able 
and  capable  in  law,  by  the  name  aforesaid,  to  sue 
and  implead,  be  sued  and  impleaded,  answer  and 
be  answered,  in  all  courts  of  record  whatsoever ;  and 
they  shall  have  power  to  open  and  receive  subscrip- 
tions, and,  in  general,  they  shall  and  may  do  all  such 
things  as  are  usually  done  by  bodies  corporate  and 
politic,  or  such  as  may  be  necessary  for  the  promo- 
tion of  learning  and  virtue. 

III.  And  be  if  further  enacted  try  the  authority  afore- 
mid,  That  the  said  Trustees,  in  order  to  carry  the 
present  act  into  effect,  shall  meet  at  Fayetteville,  on 
the  third  Monday  in  the  session  of  the  next  General 
Assembly,  at  which  time  they  shall  choose  a  Presi- 
dent and  Secretary ;  and  shall  then  fix  the  time  of 
their  next  annual  meeting;    and  at  every  annual 


4  Act  of  Incorporation. 

meeting  of  the  Trustees  the  members  present,  with 
the  President  and  Treasurer,  shall  be  a  quorum  to 
do  any  business,  or  a  majority  of  the  members,  with- 
out either  of  those  officers,  shall  be  a  quorum ;  but 
at  their  first  meeting,  as  above  directed,  there  shall 
be  at  least  fifteen  of  the  above  Trustees  present  in 
order  to  proceed  to  business;  and  the  Trustees,  at 
their  annual  meeting,  may  appoint  special  meetings 
within  the  year;  or,  in  case  unforeseen  accidents 
shall  render  a  meeting  necessary,  the  Secretary,  by 
order  of  the  President  and  any  two  of  the  Trustees, 
signified  to  him  in  writing,  shall,  by  particular  notice 
to  each  Trustee,  as  well  as  by  an  advertisement  in 
the  State  Gazette,  convene  the  Trustees  at  the  time 
proposed  by  the  President;  and  the  members  thus 
convened  shall  be  a  quorum  to  do  any  business 
except  the  appointment  of  a  President  or  professors 
in  the  University,  or  the  disposal  or  appropriation  of 
moneys;  but  in  case  of  the  death  or  resignation  of 
the  President  or  any  Professor,  the  Trustees  thus 
convened  may  supply  the  place  until  the  next  annual 
meeting  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  and  no  longer ; 
and  the  meeting  at  which  the  seat  of  the  said  Uni- 
versity shall  be  fixed  shall  be  advertised  in  the 
Gazette  of  this  State  at  least  six  months,  and  notice 
in  manner  aforesaid  to  each  of  the  Trustees  of  the 
object  of  the  said  meeting. 


Act  of  Incorporation.  5 

IV.  And  he  it  farther  enacted  by  the  authority  afore- 
said, That  the  Trustees  shall  elect  and  commission 
some  person  to  be  Treasurer  for  the  said  University 
during  the  term  of  two  years :  which  Treasurer  shall 
enter  into  bond  with  sufficient  securities  to  the  Gov- 
ernor, for  the  time  being,  in  the  sum  of  five  thousand 
pounds,  conditioned  for  the  faithful  discharge  of  his 
office  and  the  trust  reposed  in  him;  and  that  all 
moneys  and  chattels  belonging  to  the  said  corpora- 
tion, that  shall  be  in  his  hands  at  the  expiration  of 
his  office,  shall  then  be  immediately  paid  and  deliv- 
ered into  the  hands  of  the  succeeding  Treasurer; 
and  every  Treasurer  shall  receive  all  moneys,  dona- 
tions, gifts,  bequests,  and  charities,  whatsoever,  that 
may  belong  or  accrue  to  the  said  University  during 
his  office,  and  at  the  expiration  thereof  shall  account 
with  the  Trustees  for  the  same,  and  the  same  pay 
and  deliver  over  to  the  succeeding  Treasurer;  and 
on  his  neglect  or  refusal  to  pay  and  deliver  as  afore- 
said, the  same  method  of  recovery  may  be  had 
against  him  as  is  or  may  be  provided  for  the  recov- 
ery of  moneys  from  Sheriffs  or  other  persons  charge- 
able with  public  moneys ;  and  the  Treasurer  of  the 
University  shall  cause  annually  to  be  published  in 
the  State  Gazette,  for  the  satisfaction  of  the  subscribers 
and  benefactors,  a  list  of  all  moneys  and  other  things 
by  him  received  for  the  said  University,  either  by 


<i  Act  of  Incorporation. 

subscription,  legacy,  donation,  or  otherwise,  under 
the  penalty  of  one  hundred  pounds,  to  be  recovered 
at  the  suit  of  the  Attorney  General,  in  the  name  of 
the  Governor  for  the  time  being,  in  any  court  of 
record  having  cognizance  thereof:  and  the  moneys 
arising  from  such  penalties  shall  be  appropriated  to 
the  use  of  the  said  University. 

V.  Be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid; 
That  all  moneys  received  by  the  Treasurer  of  the 
said  University  shall  be  annually  paid  by  him  to 
the  Treasurer  of  the  State,  who  is  hereby  authorized 
and  ordered  to  give  a  receipt  to  the  said  Treasurer 
of  the  University,  in  behalf  of  the  said  Trustees,  for 
all  such  sums  by  him  received;  and  the  said  Treas- 
urer shall  pay  annually  unto  the  Treasurer  of  the 
said  University  six  per  cent,  interest  on  all  such 
sums  received  by  him  in  the  manner  aforesaid: 
which  amount  of  interest  paid  by  the  State  Treas- 
urer aforesaid  shall  be  allowed  to  him  in  the  settle- 
ment of  his  accounts:  And  the  said  Trustees  shall, 
on  no  event  or  pretence  whatsoever,  appropriate  or 
make  use  of  the  principal  of  the  moneys  by  them 
received  on  subscription,  but  such  principal  shall 
be  and  remain  as  a  permanent  fund  for  the  use  and 
support  of  the  said  University  forever. 

VI.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  afore- 
said, That  on  the  death,  refusal  to  act,  resignation. 


Act  of  Incorporation.  7 

or  removal  out  of  the  State  of  any  of  the  Trustees 
for  the  time  being,  it  shall  be  lawful  for  the  remain- 
ing Trustees,  or  any  fifteen  of  them,  and  they  are 
hereby  authorized  and  required  to  elect  and  appoint 
one  or  more  Trustees,  in  the  place  of  such  Trustee  or 
Trustees  dead,  refusing  to  act,  resigned  or  removed: 
which  Trustee  or  Trustees  so  appointed  shall  be 
vested  with  the  same  powers,  trust  and  authority  as 
the  Trustees  are,  by  virtue  of  this  act:  Provider! , 
never ii heless,  that  the  Trustee  or  Trustees  so  appointed 
shall  reside  in  the  Superior  Court  district  where  the 
person  or  persons  reside  in  whose  room  he  or  they 
shall  be  so  elected. 

VII.  And  be  if  further  enacted  by  the  authority  afore- 
said, That  when  the  Trustees  shall  deem  the  funds 
of  the  said  University  adequate  to  the  purchase  of  a 
necessary  quantity  of  land  and  erecting  the  proper 
buildings,  they  shall  direct  a  meeting  of  the  said 
Trustees  for  the  purpose  of  fixing  on  and  purchas- 
ing a  healthy  and  convenient  situation,  which  shall 
not  be  situate  within  live  miles  of  the  permanent 
seat  of  government  or  any  of  the  places  of  holding 
the  courts  of  law  or  equity,  which  meeting  shall  be 
advertised  at  least  six  months  in  some  gazette  in 
this  State,  and  at  such  Superior  Courts  as  may  hap- 
pen within  that  time. 


<s  Act  of  Incorporation. 

VIII.  Be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  aforesaid, 
That  the  Trustees  shall  have  the  power  of  appoint- 
ing a  President  of  the  University  and  such  professors 
and  tutors  as  to  them  shall  appear  necessary  and 
proper,  whom  they  may  remove  for  misbehavior, 
inability,  or  neglect  of  duty ;  and  they  shall  have 
the  power  to  make  all  such  laws  and  regulations  for 
the  government  of  the  University  and  preservation 
of  order  and  good  morals  therein  as  are  usually 
made  in  such  seminaries  and  as  to  them  may  appear 
necessary:  Provided,  the  same  are  not  contrary  to 
the  inalienable  liberty  of  a  citizen  or  to  the  laws  of 
the  State.  And  the  Faculty  of  the  University  — 
that  is  to  say,  the  President  and  professors  —  by  and 
with  the  consent  of  the  Trustees,  shall  have  the 
power  of  conferring  all  such  degrees,  or  marks  of 
literary  distinction,  as  are  usually  conferred  in  col- 
leges or  universities. 

IX.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  afore- 
said, That  every  person  who,  within  the  term  of  five 
years,  shall  subscribe  ten  pounds  towards  this  Uni- 
versity, to  be  paid  within  five  years  at  five  equal 
annual  payments,  shall  be  entitled  to  have  one  stu- 
dent educated  at  the  University  free  from  any  expense 
of  tuition. 

X.  And  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority  afore- 
said, That  the  public  hall  of  the  library  and  four  of 


Act  of  Incorporation.  9 

the  colleges  shall  be  called  severally  by  the  names 
of  one  or  another  of  the  six  persons  who  shall, 
within  four  years,  contribute  the  largest  sums  towards 
the  funds  of  this  University,  the  highest  subscriber 
or  donor  having  choice  in  the  order  of  their  respect- 
ive donations.  And  a  book  shall  be  kept  in  the 
library  of  the  University,  in  which  shall  be  fairly 
entered  the  names  and  places  of  residence  of  every 
benefactor  to  this  seminary,  in  order  that  posterity 
may  be  informed  to  whom  they  are  indebted  for  the 
measure  of  learning  and  good  morals  that  may  pre- 
vail in  the  State. 


CENTENNIAL  ALUMNI  BANQUET. 


On  Wednesday  of  Commencement  week,  June  5, 
1889,  a  large  body  of  the  Alumni  of  the  University 
of  North  Carolina,  together  with  many  Trustees  and 
the  Faculty  of  the  institution  and  invited  guests. 
assembled  in  Gerrard  Hall  at  2  o'clock  P.M.  to  cele- 
brate a  banquet  in  honor  of  the  centennial  anniver- 
sary of  the  incorporation  of  the  University.  There 
were  present  also  the  following  representatives  of 
other  colleges  and  universities: 

Professor  Crawford  H.  Toy,  LL.D.,  of  Harvard 
University;  Honorable  W.  N.  H.  Smith,  LL.D.,  of 
Yale  University;  Colonel  Charles  S.  Venable,  LL.D., 
of  the  University  of  Virginia;  President  Henry  E. 
Shepherd,  LL.D.,  of  Charleston  College;  Honorable  J. 
L.  M.  Curry,  LL.D.,  of  Richmond  College;  Rev.  J.  B. 
Cheshire,  Jr.,  of  the  University  of  the  South  ;  Presi- 
dent Charles  E.  Taylor,  D.  D.,  of  Wake  Forest  College: 
Professor  W.  G.  Brown.  M.  S.,  of  Washington  and 
Lee  University:  Professor  W.  B.  Burney,  Ph.  D.,  of 
the  University  of  South  Carolina;  Professor  F.  C. 
Woodward,  A.  M.,  of  the  University  of  South  Caro- 
lina; Professor  A.  W.  Long,  A.  M.,  of  WofFord  Col- 


Centennial  Alumni  Banquet.  11 

lege;  Professor  George  T.  Winston,  A.  M.,  of  Cornell 
University. 

Many  other  colleges  and  universities  sent  congratu- 
latory messages  by  mail  or  wire,  and  the  representa- 
tives of  several  were  detained  by  the  floods,  among 
them  being  Honorable  D.  C.  Gilman,  LL.D.,  Presi- 
dent of  the  Johns  Hopkins  University. 

Gerrard  Hall  had  been  cleared  of  its  customary 
benches  and  on  the  lower  floor  tables  were  now  spread 
for  three  hundred  guests,  while  the  galleries  were 
filled  with  ladies  and  gentlemen,  visitors  at  Com- 
mencement, representing  all  sections  of  North  Caro- 
lina and  other  States. 

The  Alumni  and  guests  being  seated,  at  the  request 
of  the  Hon.  Walter  L.  Steele,  President  of  the  Alumni 
Association,  the  Rt.  Rev.  Theodore  B.  Lyman,  Bishop 
of  North  Carolina,  invoked  the  blessing  of  Almighty 
God.  After  an  hour,  spent  in  enjoyment  of  the  deli- 
cacies of  the  table,  in  social  reunion  and  in  college 
reminiscence,  the  President  of  the  Association  arose 
and  said  :  "  It  is  said  that  on  a  banquet  occasion  some 
years  ago,  Daniel  Webster,  knowing  the  peculiarities 
of  his  hearers,  began  his  address  in  these  words: 
'  Ye  solid  men  of  Boston,  make  no  long  orations ! 
Ye  solid  men  of  Boston,  take  no  strong  potations ! ' 
I  do  not  doubt  that  the  advice  was  most  excellent 
then,  and  surely  it  is  now  excellent  at  this  centennial 


12  Centennial  Alumni  Banquet. 

gathering,  I,  therefore,  most  respectfully,  but  earn- 
estly, suggest  to  the  Alumni  that  there  are  abundant 
reasons  at  present  existing  why  no  one  should 
indulge  in  a  '  long  oration.'  Of  course  there  is  no 
necessity  of  a  warning  of  any  other  character."  He 
then  read  the  first  regular  toast  of  the  occasion,  as 
follows : 

The  State  Congress  of  ijjb   and  the    General   Assembly   of 
1789. 

Response  was  made  by  his  Excellency  Daniel  G. 
Fowle,  LL.D.,  Governor  of  North  Carolina,  and  ex 
officio  President  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  as  follows: 

We  have  a  right  to  be  proud  of  our  Revolutionary 
ancestors,  for  in  the  year  177(5,  with  its  varied  for- 
tunes, they  were  ever  true  to  the  great  idea  of  Ameri- 
can liberty.  During  that  eventful  year  the  Congress 
of  the  Patriots  of  North  Carolina  met  twice  at  Hali- 
fax for  the  purpose  of  considering  the  condition  of 
the  country,  once  on  the  4th  of  April,  and  again  on 
the  12th  of  November.  But  very  different  were  the 
auspices  under  which  the  Assembly  held  its  different 
sessions. 

In  April  North  Carolina's  great  heart,  always  full 
of  patriotism,  was  stirred  to  enthusiasm  by  the  glad 
news  which  had  recently  been  received  from  the 
Cape  Fear  section,  that  a  few  short  weeks  before  (in 


Centennial  Alumni  Banquet.  13 

February)  Lillington  and  Caswell  had  defeated,  at 
Widow  Moore's  bridge,  the  most  formidable  army  of 
the  Tories  which  had  ever  been  collected  on  her  soil, 
and  had  taken  prisoner  General  McDonald,  their 
leader.  Animated  by  this  glorious  victory,  and  feel- 
ing that  liberty  was  within  their  grasp,  with  exulta- 
tion and  enthusiasm  they  passed  the  resolution 
directing  the  delegates  from  North  Carolina  in  the 
Continental  Congress  to  concur  with  the  delegates 
from  the  other  Colonies  in  declaring  Independence. 

But  under  what  different  auspices  did  they  assem- 
ble on  the  12th  of  November  of  that  same  year! 
General  Washington  had  been  so  beset  on  Long- 
Island  that  only  by  good  fortune,  which  seemed 
almost  like  the  interposition  of  Divine  Providence,. 
had  he  been  able  to  reach  the  main-land,  and,  like 
a  wounded  lion,  slowly  retired  before  his  too  power- 
ful enemy. 

The  great  city  of  the  Continent,  to  which  we  had 
looked  for  ammunition,  stores  and  reinforcements, 
New  York,  had  surrendered  to  the  enemy,  and  the 
cause  of  liberty  seemed  nearly  hopeless. 

Did  these  fathers  of  ours  give  way  to  despondency? 
Far  otherwise.  With  their  keen  vision  they  pierced 
the  dark  clouds  which  seemed  to  encircle  them,  and 
after  expressing  confidence  in  the  result  of  the  con- 
flict, they   showed  their  faith   by  providing  in  the 


14  Centennial  Alumni  Banquet. 

Constitution  of  the  State  that,  when  the  war  was 
over  and  independence  secured,  "  A  school  or  schools 
shall  be  established  by  the  Legislature,  and  all  use- 
ful learning  shall  be  encouraged  and  promoted  in 
one  or  more  Universities."'  The  greatness  of  these 
men  cannot  be  overrated. 

During  the  continuance  of  the  war  this  mandate 
of  the  Constitution  lay  dormant,  but  when  the  war 
was  over,  its  consideration  again  received  their  atten- 
tion, and  after  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States,  on  the  21st  of  November,  1780. 
the  Legislature,  on  the  11th  of  December,  1789, 
chartered  this  University  by  an  act  in  which  it  was 
declared  that  it  was  "  the  indispensable  duty  of  every 
Legislature  to  consult  the  happiness  of  a  rising  gen- 
eration, and  endeavor  to  fit  them  for  an  honorable 
discharge  of  the  social  duties  of  life,"'  and  that  "a 
University,  supported  by  permanent  funds,  and  well 
endowed,  will  have  the  most  direct  tendency  to 
answer  the  above  purpose/'  Thus  was  its  constitu- 
tional obligation  discharged,  and  the  result  of  its 
action  is  before  us  to-day. 

The  wisdom  of  our  fathers  has  been  illustrated  by 
a  long  line  of  distinguished  divines,  professors,  farm- 
ers, scientists,  lawyers,  physicians,  soldiers  and  states- 
men who  have  gone  out  from  these  walls. 


Centennial  Alumni  Banquet.  15 

And  now  there  is  a  practical  question  for  us  to 
consider  and  determine.  I  commenced  these  remarks 
by  saying  that  we  had  a  right  to  be  proud  of  our 
Revolutionary  ancestors.  The  question  for  us  to  con- 
sider is:  Will  our  descendants  one  hundred  years 
hence  have  it  in  their  power  to  use  the  same  lan- 
guage as  to  us?  Will  they  be  proud  of  us,  or  will 
they  enshroud  us  in  a  mantle  of  charitable  silence? 
The  constitutional  obligation  to  foster  the  University 
is  upon  us,  and  we  can  gain  the  approval  of  pos- 
terity, and  of  every  good  man  in  our  dear  old  State, 
by  exerting  ourselves  in  behalf  of  this  institution, 
until  the  University  of  North  Carolina  shall  become 
the  synonym  for  all  that  is  progressive  in  science  or 
elevating  in  education. 

The  second  toast  was  then  announced: 
The  Founders  and  Donors  of  the  University. 

Response  was  made  by  the  Hon.  Kemp  P.  Battle, 
LL.D.,  President  of  the  University : 

The  legal,  technical  founders  of  the  University 
of  North  Carolina  were  the  early  General  Assemblies 
of  the  State,  acting  under  the  mandate  of  the  Con- 
stitution. I  am  grieved  to  say  that  I  cannot  praise 
the  majorities  of  those  bodies  for  their  beneficence. 
There  were  great  men  in  the  minorities,  as  Governor 


1(5  Centennial  Alumni  Banquet. 

Fowle  has  so  eloquently  shown,  but  their  efforts  for 
the  infant  institution  were  resisted  by  a  dense  mass  of 
ignorance  and  prejudice,  thundering  "No!"  on  all 
questions  of  appropriations.  Ten  thousand  dollars 
as  a  loan  for  building  our  first  structure,  the  Old 
East,  afterwards  through  assiduous  importunities 
converted  into  a  gift,  was  all  the  money  ever  granted 
from  our  State  Treasury  for  the  first  seventy-five 
years  of  the  L  ni versify 's  life. 

The  State  had,  however,  a  claim  to  escheated  land 
warrants,  belonging  to  soldiers  of  the  Revolution 
who  had  died  without  heirs.  They  were  located  in 
the  western  regions  of  Tennessee  —  the  home  of  bears 
and  panthers  and  wild  Indians.  These  land  war- 
rants, worthless  to  the  State,  were  donated  to  the 
University.  Tennessee  claimed  them  by  her  right 
of  sovereignty,  and  the  University  was  only  able  by 
the  skillful  engineering  of  Judge  Murphy  to  obtain 
one-third  on  the  surrender  of  two-thirds.  These 
lands,  sold  in  1835,  were  the  foundation  of  the 
endowment  of  the  University,  coming  to  her  aid 
when  in  direst  stress,  lifting  her  head  above  the 
water  and  causing  nearly  live  hundred  students  from 
the  Potomac  to  the  Rio  Grande  to  flock  to  her  halls. 

It  is  of  pathetic  interest  to  know  that  those  un- 
knowm  heroes  who  won  our  independence  and  made 
possible  the  most  glorious  republic  of  all  the  ages. 


Centennial  Alumni  Banquet.  17 

who  in  direst  poverty,  in  hunger  and  thirst  and  cold 
and  nakedness  did  their  great  work,  were  uninten- 
tionally laying  the  foundations  of  our  institution, 
by  whose  influences  have  been  reared  up  so  many 
pillars  of  the  government  for  which  they  fought. 
They  built  better  than  they  knew — those  "'unnamed 
demi-gods  of  history." 

Although  the  common  soldiers  were  thus  uninten- 
tionally the  chief  benefactors  of  our  institution,  the 
next  to  them  were  officers  of  the  same  noble  army. 
There  was  Governor  Smith,  who  donated  20,000  acres 
of  Obion  county  lands,  which,  after  being  shaken  up 
into  lakes  and  hills  by  the  most  terrific  earthquake 
which  in  historic  times  lias  ever  visited  America, 
realized  a  considerable  sum.  Poor  old  Governor 
Smith,  Washington's  aide-de-camp,  wealthy  and  hon- 
ored Governor  of  this  great  State,  impulsive  and  too 
trustful  of  evil  friends,  spending  his  last  days  in 
querulous  want !  Quick  in  quarrel,  when  his  body 
was  moved  from  the  grave-yard  at  Old  Town,  the 
bullet  from  Maurice  Moore's  pistol,  shot  in  a  duel, 
was  found  among  his  bones. 

Then  there  was  Thomas  Person,  who  aided  the 
construction  of  our  Old  Chapel,  Person  Hall,  whose 
love  of  liberty  placed  him  among  the  Regulators  of 
1771,  as  well  as  the  Revolutionists  of  1770.  There 
was  Charles  Gerrard,  who  loved  his  blood-bought 
2 


18  Centennial  Alumni  Banquet. 

lands  so  well  that  he  requested  the  University  never 
to  sell  them,  which  request  the  University  found  it 
impossible  to  grant,  but  honored   his  memory  by 

giving  his  name  to  this  hall.  "  Gerrard,"  not  the  spell- 
ing of  the  Philadelphia  millionaire's  name. 

We  should  not  forget  the  donors  of  the  site  of  the 
University,  nor  the  donors  of  smaller  amounts  in 
money  and  material  and  books  and  apparatus. 
Among  the  foremost  of  old  days  1  lind  Richard  Ben- 
nehan,  grandfather  of  a  benefactor  of  recent  years. 
our  venerable  friend.  Paul  C.  Cameron,  who  has 
given  and  lent,  not  only  money,  but  months  of  val- 
uable time,  and  a  whole  brain  fall  of  wise  superin- 
tendence in  the  construction  ami  repairs  of  our  build- 
ings, and  in  the  beautiful  trees  of  the  avenue  which 
we  have  named  in  his  honor,  ruder  these  trees 
young  men  and  maiden-  will  delightedly  stroll  as 
long  as  sweet  words  shall  be  whispered  into  maidens' 
ears. 

The  ladies,  too.  made  timely  gifts.  Among  the 
archives  of  the  University  are  the  original  auto- 
graphs of  fair  ladies  of  Raleigh  and  New  Berne,  do- 
nating mathematical  instruments,  with  the  declara- 
tion that  women,  whether  mothers  or  daughters, 
have  peculiar  interest  in  the  education  and  refine- 
ment of  young  men.  Their  spirits  have  long  ago 
tlown  to  the  spirit  land.     Their  graceful  forms  are 


Centennial  Alumni  Banquet.  19 

no  more  seen  among  us.  But  they  are  not  dead ; 
they  live  in  their  beneficent  work.  Their  noble 
qualities  are  found  in  their  descendants  by  the  laws 
of  heredity,  the  true  transmigration  of  souls.  To 
this  list  must  be  added  in  recent  years  the  ladies  of 
Raleigh  and  Hillsboro  and  Louisburg,  and  especially 
the  name  of  Mary  Ruffin  Smith,  whose  generosity 
and  forgetfulness  of  self  are  proved  by  the  bequest 
of  a  valuable  fund,  to  be  known,  at  her  request,  not 
by  her  own.  but  her  brother's  name. 

Among  the  benefactors  of  recent  years  are  con- 
spicuous the  great  constitutional  lawyer,  Bartholo- 
mew F.  Moore.  Rev.  John  Calvin  McNair,  my  class- 
mate, and  that  eloquent  divine  and  philanthropist, 
Dr.  Charles  F.  Deems,  whose  fund,  enlarged  by  Mr. 
W.  H.  Yanderbilt,  lias  already  aided  to  higher  edu- 
cation over  one  hundred  and  twenty  young  men 
struggling  upwards  under  financial  difficulties. 

There  are  numerous  benefactors  of  small  amounts 
in  the  old  days  for  erecting  our  buildings,  and  in 
1875,  when  we  repaired  them,  after  long  years  of 
neglect,  but  my  time  does  not  permit  me  to  call  the 
list. 

The  monuments  of  all  donors  to  universities  are 
more  lasting  than  brass  and  granite.  Centuries  will 
come  and  go,  families  will  grow  great  and  be  extin- 
guished, fortunes   will  be  made  and   fortunes  lost, 


20  Centennial  Alumni  Banquet. 

office  will  be  struggled  for  and  ambitions  realized, 
but  the  names  of  the  victors  will  vanish  as  if  writ- 
ten on  the  sea-shore  sands.  Reputations,  blazing  in 
pulpit  or  forum  or  legislative  halls,  will  fade  as 
rapidly  as  the  meteors  vanishing  in  the  air.  But 
the  names  of  Smith  and  Person  and  Gerrard,  of 
Moore  and  Deems  and — (who  will  be  the  next?)  — 
will  live  forever.  In  all  the  ages  to  come  their  works 
will  go  on.  The  successive  swarms  of  young  men 
wTho  will  have  their  mental  panoply  supplied  from 
the  University  armory  for  life's  varied  conflicts  will 
keep  their  memories  in  perennial  freshness.  As  long 
as  the  University  shall  last  their  names  shall  be 
honored,  and  the  University  shall  last  forever. 

The  third  toast  was  then  read  : 

The  General  Assemblies  of  iSj§,  1881  and  /S85. 

Response  was  made  by  W.  N.  Mebane,  Esq.: 
The  General  Assembly  of  1789  gave  to  the  Uni- 
versity its  being  and  rendered  possible  its  history 
and  its  glories;  but  the  University,  as  if  impressed 
ab  initio  with  the  truth,  has  certainly  exemplified  in 
its  career  the  principle  of  "  Quisque  sua?  fortunx 
faber." 

Nevertheless,  let  us  "  render  unto  Caesar  the  things 
that  are  Caesar's." 


Centennial  Alumni  Banquet.  21 

We  meet  to-day  to  commemorate  and  celebrate 
the  wise  and  enlightened  statesmanship  of  the  As- 
sembly of  1789.  Called  into  being  in  1789,  founded 
in  1795,  the  University  grew  and  strengthened  and 
waxed  mighty  in  usefulness  and  renown;  but  when 
it  had  passed  its  threescore  years  and  ten,  what  with 
war,  what  with  poverty,  what  with  the  poisoned 
darts  of  party  strife,  what  with  the  envenomed  fangs 
of  sectarian  animosity,  lingering  it  languished,  and 
languishing  it  died ;  and  the  traveler  who  passed 
this  way  in  the  winter  of  1874  and  1875  might  have 
seen,  as  it  were,  in  this  deserted  village,  and  beneath 
these  grand  old  oaks,  the  corpse  of  our  Alma  Mater 
in  full  length  along,  laid  out  in  state. 

But  hark!  the  chapel-bell  in  the  Old  South  and 
the  village  bells  in  happy  chorus  ring  aloud  a  merry 
peal.  The  wires  have  flashed  the  news  that  the 
General  Assembly  of  1875  has  revived  the  Univer- 
sity by  restoring  the  interest  on  the  land-scrip  fund, 
$7,500.  So  it  was,  as  our  annals  will  truly  tell. 
Yet  vain  it  were  to  rouse  the  dead,  if,  for  want  of 
nourishment,  the  resurrected  giant  should  be  left  to 
relapse  into  the  open  tomb. 

That  nourishment,  that  needed  sustenance,  was 
bravely  furnished  by  the  Legislature  of  1881,  which 
added  $5,000  more  of  annual  appropriation;  and 
yet,  to  the  lasting  honor  of  the  General  Assembly  of 


'2'Z  Centennial  Alumni  Banquet. 

1886  be  it  said,  that,  by  its  annual  appropriation  of 
$15,000  to  the  University,  the  stone  was  rolled 
athwart  the  open  sepulchre:  and  the  succeeding 
Assemblies,  deaf  to  all  the  harsh  cries  of  those  who 
would  throttle  its  life  and  still  its  mighty  pulse, 
have  sealed  the  stone,  and  the  inscription  on  the 
seal,  if  we  can  interpret  aright  the  sentiment  of  the 
"Old  North  State,"  is  this:  Uttiverftitns  edo  perpetua. 

As  to  the  action  of  Alumni  who,  as  members  of 
the  General  Assemblies  of  187"),  1881  and  1885,  con- 
tributed to  the  redemption  and  resuscitation  of  their 
Ahmet  Mater,,  let  them,  one  and  all,  be  consoled  with 
the  thought  that,  like  Nelson  at  Trafalgar,  the  Uni- 
versity had  a  right  to  expect  of  all  her  children  that 
they  should  do  their  duty.  For  such,  all  honor; 
and  my  limit  of  five  minutes  precludes  special  men- 
tion of  those  Alumni,  but  allow  me,  as  a  member  of 
the  Lower  House  of  1875  (and  1  know  you  will  join 
me),  to  pay  my  grateful  tribute  to  the  wise,  the 
patriotic,  the  efficient,  and  courageous  assistance  ren- 
dered at  that  crisis  of  the  University's  fate  by  some 
who  were  not  Alumni.  Prominent  among  them  were 
Sidney  M.  Finger,  now  at  the  head  of  our  depart- 
ment of  education;  James  C.  McRae,  the  eloquent, 
the  brave,  who  graces  by  his  ability  and  learning  the 
bench  of  our  State:  and  last,  but  not  least.  Xereus 
Mendenhall,  of  Guilford,  and  H.  A.  Gudger,  of  Madi- 
son county,  who  honor  and  adorn  the  private  station. 


Centennial  Alumni  Banquet.  23 

The  glorious  record  of  the  old  regime  has  been 
made.  Our  past  is  secure,  and  let  us  hope  that  the 
revival  of  the  University,  under  the  action  of  the 
Assemblies  of  1875,  1881  and  1885,  will  be  to  her 
what  the  Renaissance  was  to  art ;  and  if  there  is  aught 
that  is  ennobling  and  elevating  and  inspiring  in  this 
grand  and  venerable  occasion,  graced,  as  it  is,  by  the 
beauty  of  Carolina's  daughters  and  dignified  by  the 
wisdom  of  Carolina's  sages,  when  standing  upon  the 
confines  of  two  centuries  we  look  back  with  pride 
upon  the  glories  of  her  past  and  forward  with  Iwpi 
to  the  yet  greater  glories  of  our  I  niversity's  future, 
which,  though  "dim-discovered,  brighter  far  do  seem 
than  all  her  past  hath  been,"  then  let  us  this  libation 
pour,  and  in  their  legislative  halls  this  legend  write, 
that  but  for  the  enactments  of  the  General  Assem- 
blies of  1875,  1881  and  1885  (equally  as  of  the  Act 
of  1789)  it  can  be  truly  said  we  had  not  been  here  this 
grand  centennial  day  to  celebrate. 

It  was  expected  that  the  Hon.  George  V.  Strong  also 
would  respond  to  the  third  toast,  but  he  was  detained 
at  home  by  sickness. 

The  President  then  read  the  fourth  toast: 

The  Site  of  the  University. 

Response  was  made  by  W.  J.  Peele: 


24  Centennial  Alumni  Banquet. 

The  site  of  the  University  was  chosen,  in  part,  by 
casting  lots.  Judging  from  results  it  is  a  much  bet- 
ter method  than  by  ballot,  and  1  commend  it  to  the 
prayerful  consideration  of  the  Presidential  Electors. 
The  lot  fell  upon  the  country  within  fifteen  miles  of 
"  Cyprett's  Creek  Bridge,"  in  Chatham  county.  The 
committee,  consisting  of  Frederick  Hargett,  chair- 
man; James  Hogg,  Alexander  Mebane  and  Wm.  H. 
Hill,  after  scouring  the  country  round  for  several 
days,  chose  the  present  site  of  the  University,  Novem- 
ber 6th,  170.!.  Tradition  says  that  while  making 
this  choice  the  committee  stood  under  the  old  pop- 
lar which  still  stands  near  the  center  of  the  Forbid- 
den Ground.  Some  years  ago  the  lightning  struck 
this  tree,  but  it  seems  to  have  recovered  from  the 
shock;  and  some  years  ago  the  lightning  struck  this 
University,  but  you  couldn't  tell  it  now:  it  seems  to 
have  recovered  also. 

The  original  donors,  nine  in  number,  gave  some- 
thing over  a  thousand  acres,  or  one  thousand  one 
hundred  and  eighty  in  all,  and,  be  it  said  to  their 
praise,  the  moving  considerations  mentioned  in  all 
their  deeds  were  the  advantages  to  their  State  and 
county.  Not  being  a  dancing  man  myself,  I  was 
sorry  to  see  that  the  practice  of  dancing  was  affirma- 
tively suggested  in  one  of  the  deeds.  After  conveying 
twenty  acres  of  the  land  whereon  we  now  stand  as  a 


Centennial  Alumni  Banquet.  25 

gift  to  the  University,  and  after  binding  himself  and 
heirs  to  defend  the  title  against  all  persons,  we  find 
the  instrument  signed,  sealed  and  delivered  by  A. 
Piper,  arxl  witnessed  by  Sam1/  Hopkins.  I  need 
hardly  add  that  the  gymnasium  now  stands  on  piper's 
ground. 

But  no  matter  how  the  site  of  the  University  was 
chosen,  and  no  matter  what  were  the  vagaries  of 
some  of  the  donors,  no  one  who  has  seen  these 
grounds  will  ever  forget  them.  Looking  from  the 
belfry  of  the  South  Building,  or  from  the  brow  of 
the  Hill  eastward,  the  successive  vistas  stretch  before 
you  until  it  seems  as  if  the  lost  eras  of  a  past  eter- 
nity had  returned  to  earth  again  and  old  ocean  had 
resumed  her  ancient  sway  over  the  homes  of  men. 
The  geologists  tell  us  that  this  great  valley  was  once 
the  bed  of  an  arm  of  the  sea,  and  long  after  the 
Atlantic  had  left  these  shores  forever,  its  waters 
crept  up  this  ancient  bed  as  though  the  parting  sea- 
god  would  fain  to  pay  a  tribute  of  respect  to  the 
future  seat  of  this  grand  old  institution  by  bathing 
the  feet  of  her  everlasting  hills. 

The  fifth  toast  announced : 

President  Joseph  Caldwell  and  the  Faculty  and  Trustees  of  his 
admin  ist  ration . 

Hon.  Paul  C.  Cameron,  LL.D.,  responded  : 


26  Centennial  Alumni  Banquet. 

I  should  fail  in  my  duty  to  the  living  and  the 
dead  did  I  not  respond  to  that  sentiment—"  Caldwell, 
the  first  President,  his  Faculty  and  the  Trustees  of 
his  administration."  My  only  regret  is  that  I  am 
not  equal  to  the  occasion  or  the  duty,  having  been 
so  long  and  so  recently  an  invalid.  1  believe  that 
I  have  not  often  failed  in  any  duty  when  called  to 
it  in  the  interest  of  the  University  of  North  Carolina 
or  the  village  of  Chapel  Hill. 

These  woods  must  ever  call  up  the  memory,  form 
and  characteristics  of  Joseph  Caldwell,  and  will,  as 
long  as  these  walls  by  which  we  are  surrounded 
shall  stand,  or  this  pleasant  village  is  known  as  a 
seat  of  learning;  and  so  long  as  the  name  of  the 
University  is  on  the  map,  it  will  be  associated  with 
that  of  the  first  President.  To  leave  it  out  would 
be  as  if  the  topographer  should  present  us  with 
Switzerland  without  its  profile  of  mountains,  or  old 
Egypt  without  its  overflowing  and  fertilizing  Nile, 
or  our  own  vast  North  American  Continent  without 
the  great  Father  of  Waters,  in  his  grand  sweep  from 
the  lakes  of  the  North  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  The 
good  man  needs  no  eulogy  at  my  hands,  and  no 
praise  of  mine  can-add  a  cubit  to  his  stature.  His 
early  struggles  in  its  behalf  must  stand  alone  in  the 
building  up  of  this  institution.  He  came  like  Paul  to 
plant,  and  then  like  Apollos  to  water  with  his  tears, 


Centennial  Alumni  Banquet.  27 

prayers,  benedictions  and  benefactions  to  the  end  of 
his  days  —  a  continuous  effort  of  thirty-one  years. 

I  was  first  brought  in  contact  with  Dr.  Caldwell 
at  a  very  early  age.  In  my  father's  home,  in  Orange 
county,  he  was  ever  a  welcome  visitor.  As  a  teacher, 
he  prompted  us  to  our  duty;  in  sorrow  he  visited 
our  sick  and  buried  our  dead.  Dr.  Caldwell  was 
brought  to  the  attention  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  by 
Charles  W.  Harris,  of  Cabarrus  county,  who  was 
educated  at  Princeton  or  Nassau  Hall.  He  learned 
the  merits  of  Caldwell,  who  was  perhaps  his  instruc- 
tor, and,  so  far  as  I  am  informed,  was  the  sole  in- 
dorser  of  Caldwell,  our  future  and  first  President. 
He  promptly  accepted  the  call  to  come  at  our  invi- 
tation, and  though  tempted  to  remain  and  take 
charge  of  wealthy  congregations  in  the  cities  of  the 
North,  he  hesitated  not  to  keep  his  engagement  with 
our  infant  University. 

He  commenced  his  duties  at  Chapel  Hill  about 
the  first  of  January,  1790,  becoming  President  in 
1804.  He  was  no  doubt  fully  informed  as  to  the 
actual  condition  of  affairs  at  Chapel  Hill,  with 
accommodations  for  about  fifty  boys  and  two  tutors 
and  only  one  college  building  of  two  stories.  If  he 
suffered  any  disappointment  it  was  never  known ; 
the  climate  charmed  him,  and  he  was  pleased  with 
such  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  as  he  had  seen.     All 


'2S  Centennial  Alumni  Banquet. 

promised  well  to  bis  eye,  and  he  was  a  busy  and 
earnest  worker,  hopeful  and  cheerful,  with  no  regrets, 
and  so  he  worked  on  year  after  year.  He  came  like 
a  missionary,  without  incumbrance  or  wife.  He 
finds  a  wife  in  the  county  of  Anson,  in  a  Miss  Roane, 
of  the  Virginia  family.  He  marries,  and  in  three 
years  he  buries  his  wife  and  infant  daughter.  He 
yields  to  no  despondency  or  despair.  He  works  on 
with  unyielding  industry.  Again  he  marries — a 
widow,  born  in  Scotland,  the  daughter  of  a  well- 
trained  and  intellectual  family — a  lady  of  tall  and 
graceful  figure,  easy  in  her  address  and  carriage,  and 
all  blended  with  a  very  becoming  dignity;  the  mother 
of  two  sons— Mrs.  William  Hooper.  In  this  alliance 
Dr.  Caldwell  connected  himself  with  an  honored 
name  in  North  Carolina,  associated  as  it  is  with  our 
"Great  Deed"  of  national  liberty  and  independence. 
Mrs.  Hooper  brought  with  her  to  Chapel  Hill  Wil- 
liam and  Thomas,  her  sons,  for  education,  and  built 
the  best  house  in  the  village,  that  became  an  historic 
house,  in  which  Presidents  and  eminent  men  of  all 
pursuits  and  professions  have  been  entertained.  It 
was  a  fortunate  union  for  both  parties — Mrs.  Cald- 
well was  a  fit  lady  in  the  White  House  of  Chapel 
Hit/,  and  Dr.  Caldwell  gave  her  the  control  of  do- 
mestic affairs  while  he  assumed  with  great  care  the 
education  of  the  two  sons.     Thev  became  the  objects 


Centennial  Alumni  Banquet.  29 

of  his  most  tender  watchfulness.  William,  his  life 
darkened  by  the  accidental  shooting  of  a  dear  little 
cousin  in  Judge  William  Norwood's  office,  near  Hills- 
boro,  was  subsequently  taken  to  Princeton,  N.  J., 
by  Dr.  Caldwell  for  education  and  medical  care.  He 
did  not  remain  long.  By  the  advice  of  an  emi- 
nent physician  he  was  brought  home  and  placed 
under  the  controlling  influence  of  his  excellent 
mother,  and  the  result  was  a  general  scholar  and  an 
ornament  to  the  State. 

Thomas  Hooper  entered  a  law  office  and  became 
a  resident  lawyer  at  Fayetteville,  and  had  hardly 
arrived  to  middle-age  before  he  died.  William,  for 
a  while,  was  first  Professor  of  Languages  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  North  Carolina,  then  a  clergyman  of  the 
Episcopal  Church,  and  then,  uniting  himself  with 
the  Baptist  Church,  became  eventually  the  President 
of  Wake  Forest  College.  He  was  previously,  how- 
ever, in  charge  of  a  theological  school  of  that  church 
in  South  Carolina,  and  then  Professor  of  Languages 
in  South  Carolina  College  at  Columbia. 

Dr.  Caldwell  was  eminently  faithful  in  every  office 
he  assumed.  Duty,  fully  performed,  was  the  pole- 
star  of  his  life.  The  college  advanced  in  popular 
favor  with  increasing  confidence  and  numbers,  but 
the  continued  strain  and  effort  began  to  tell  on  his 
health  and  vigorous  manhood,  and  the  Trustees  ten- 


30  Centennial  Alumni  Banquet. 

dered  him  a  rest  and  freedom  from  his  taxing  labors, 
and  proposed  a  trip  to  Europe  for  the'  purchase  of 
chemical  instruments  for  the  laboratory  and  appa- 
ratus for  the  philosophical  department  and  for  the 
increase  of  the  University  library  and  that  of  both 
societies.  A  trip  to  Europe  was  not  then  a  summer's 
jaunt  of  a  few  weeks,  but  caused  his  absence  for 
nearly  a  year:  and  on  his  return  to  New  York  he 
announced  his  arrival  to  Professor  Mitchell,  the  act- 
ing President  of  the  University,  and  the  probable 
day  of  his  arrival  at  Chapel  Hill.  He  was  on  time. 
The  students  of  the  University  resolved  on  a  welcome. 
A  brilliant  illumination  —  the  first  and  only  one 
ever  made  in  these  buildings  —  was  resolved  on,  and 
it  was  an  entire  suceess.  Well  do  I  recall  the  splen- 
dors of  that  night  and  the  procession  of  the  students 
to  his  residence  and  his  stepping  out  upon  the  floor 
of  the  back  piazza  —  the  cheer  after  cheer  that  was 
given  to  the  dear  old  man.  Falling  into  line,  the 
march  back  to  the  college  was  commenced,  and  on 
our  arrival  at  the  front-door  of  the  South  Building, 
the  President  was  escorted  to  a  stand  near  the  well, 
from  which  he  addressed  the  students  and  the  entire 
village  population  with  the  affection  of  a  long-absent 
father,  for  he  was  indeed  full  of  feeling,  and  it  was 
with  difficulty  he  could  give  utterance  to  his  words. 
He  was  escorted  back  to  his  modest  home,  and  the 


Centennial  Alumni  Banquet.  31 

impression  prevailed  that  it  was  the  happiest  day  of 
his  life  —  the  consummation  of  his  supreme  joy. 
His  health  again  gave  way  under  intense  labor,  and 
he  added  largely  to  his  work  by  labored  articles  for 
the  State  press  in  urging  increased  educational  ad- 
vantages and  improvements  to  be  expected  from 
better  and  more  speedy  transportation,  especially  in 
the  construction  of  a  grand  trunk  line  from  Beau- 
fort to  the  Tennessee  line.  What  progress  we  should 
have  made  had  his  counsels  been  followed !  How 
we  should  have  leaped  ahead  of  all  the  States  of  the 
Union,  for  the  first  mile  of  a  railroad  had  not  then 
been  built  in  the  United  States.  A  full  half  century 
elapsed  before  his  desire  was  carried  out,  chiefly  by 
one  of  his  pupils — that  big-headed  and  large-hearted 
man-of-all-work,  John  <M.  Morehead.  Caldwell,  the 
seedsman;  Morehead.  the  harvester. 

Time  passes  on,  hard  work  and  old  age  do  their 
work  —  his  health  again  declines.  The  Trustees 
again  become  anxious  for  his  health  and  the  care  of 
the  University;  he  is  urged  to  have  an  assistant 
appointed:  he  declines;  they  require,  in  tender  care 
for  him,  that  he  should  name  an  assistant;  he  con- 
sents, and  at  once  names  my  friend  and  relative, 
Walker  Anderson,  who  obeys  the  call  and  enters  on 
the  duty,  and  remains  until  Dr.  Caldwell's  death.  A 
beautiful  tribute  to  the  declining  President  was  paid 


32  Centennial  Alumni  Banquet. 

by  his  pupil,  who  afterwards  became  the  Chief  Jus- 
tice of  Florida.  Day  by  day  the  good  man  declines, 
and  in  a  moment  of  supreme  agony  he  retires  to  his 
office,  the  little  brick  house  in  his  yard,  and,  in  the 
use  of  a  lnetalic  point  he  injures  himself,  intlama- 
tion  follows,  and  after  a  few  days  of  intense  suffering 
the  end  comes  to  him,  surrounded  by  a  few  sorrow- 
ing friends  and  his  physician,  Dr.  James  Webb.  A 
dark  night  falls  suddenly  upon  the  State  and  the 
institution,  and  wise  men  look  seriously  into  each 
other's  faces  and  ask  who  can  and  will  take  his  place. 

It  is  a  pleasant  memory  to  the  surviving  Alumni 
to  recall  the  steady  devotion  of  good  President  Cald- 
well to  this  institution  and  his  complete  identifica- 
tion of  himself  with  the  citizens  of  the  State  in  every 
interest.  He  made  himself  ft  freeholder  and  a  slave- 
holder, and  thought  it  no  offence  so  to  live  and  so  to 
die,  and  to-day  the  chief  servant  of  the  institution 
is  of  his  family  of  slaves.  And  so  long  as  the  great 
trunk  line  railroad  from  Morehead  ( Jity  shall  increase 
the  wealth  and  commerce  of  the  State  the  name  of 
Caldwell  will  be  remembered  as  its  first  projector 
in  the  letters  of  "Carlton." 

To  Dr.  Caldwell's  associates  in  the  Faculty,  and 
to  the  Trustees  of  his  administration,  I  can  only  give 
a  moment.  T  will  only  speak  of  those  known  to  me. 
ft  is  believed  that  during  the  two  years  I  was  a  mem- 


Centennial  Alumni  Banquet.  33 

ber  of  the  Freshman  and  Sophomore  classes  it  was  a 
body  of  able  and  well-trained  gentlemen  and  fully 
equal  to  their  office  and  duties.  In  the  chair  of 
mathematics  sat  the  genial  and  learned  Dr.  Elisha 
Mitchell,  a  favorite  with  the  students  and  with  the 
public  at  large,  a  graduate  of  Yale  College,  and  a 
class-mate  of  our  George  E.  Badger,  the  accomplished 
lawyer  and  advocate.  Professor  Denison  Olmstead, 
a  man  of  energy  and  zeal,  a  class-mate  of  Mitchell 
at  Yale,  occupied  the  chair  of  chemistry,  made  him- 
self very  acceptable  to  his  pupils  and  was  recalled 
to  Yale  to  take  the  same  chair  in  that  institution. 
He  made  our  first  geological  survey  of  the  State  of 
North  Carolina.  These  two  professors  were  intro- 
duced to  the  Board  of  Trustees  by  "that  good  man 
and  great  judge,"  William  Gaston,  growing  out  of  a 
correspondence  with  a  distinguished  Senator  of  the 
State  of  Connecticut,  Then  came  Professor  E.  A. 
Andrews,  Professor  of  Languages,  a  graduate  of  Yale, 
and  believed  to  have  been  introduced  by  Denison 
Olmstead,  a  man  of  gentle  and  pleasing,  manners 
and  never  in  robust  health.  When  his  friend  Olm- 
stead left  on  his  return  to  Yale,  Professor  Andrews 
went  North  and  ultimately  placed  himself  at  the 
head  of  a  large  female  school  in  the  city  of  Boston, 
and  enjoyed  the  patronage  of  its  best  population. 
The  qualifications  and  capacity  of  such  men  are  not 


34  Centennial  Alumni  Banquet. 

to  be  called  into  question.  They  enjoyed  the  respect 
and  confidence  of  the  President. 

Next  comes  that  learned  scholar,  the  Rev.  James 
Phillips,  regarded  both  by  his  associates  in  the  Fac- 
ulty and  those  that  he  instructed  as  the  equal  of  any 
one  who  had  preceded  him  in  the  chair  of  mathe- 
matics, and  who  was  able  to  leave  a  son  so  equal  to 
the  father  as  to  succeed  him  in  the  same  chair,  and 
whose  recent  death  so  saddened  the  friends  of  the 
University  and  the  entire  State.  Surely  no  father 
has  sent  his  children  into  the  world  better  trained 
for  their  life's  work.  Mitchell  sleeps  in  the  shade  of 
the  lofty  firs  of  the  Black  Mountain,  and  Professor 
James  Phillips,  with  his  harness  on.  attending  morn- 
ing prayers,  passes  away  on  the  rostrum  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  assembled  students. 

During  my  college  life  at  Chapel  Hill  my  chief 
instructor  was  Joseph  H.  Saunders,  then  a  tutor  and 
a  student  of  divinity  for  the  Episcopal  Church.  A 
good  and  holy  man,  anxious  to  do  his  duty,  faithful 
in  his  office,  ever  seeking  to  invite  his  pupils  to  their 
best  efforts.  He  emigrated  to  Florida,  located  at 
Pensacola,  where  he  served  his  people  most  accept- 
ably, and  where  his  life  was  cut  short  in  a  fearful 
epidemic  of  yellow  fever,  in  which  he  ministered 
with  the  bravery  of  one  who  feared  no  evil. 

Of  Caldwell's  first  Board  of  Trustees  forty  names 


Centennial  Alumni  Banquet.  35 

stand  on  the  charter-roll,  all  well-known  men  of  the 
highest  type  of  manhood,  in  social,  civil  or  military 
life.  At  the  head  of  the  list  stand  the  names  of  Gov- 
ernor Samuel  Johnston,  Judge  James  Iredell,  the 
elder,  General  William  R.  Davie,  General  Joseph 
Graham  and  Colonel  William  Polk,  the  last  surviv- 
ing field-officer  of  the  State  line  of  the  Revolution. 
A  brilliant  throng,  leaders  in  peace  and  war,  crowned 
with  the  favor  and  confidence  of  the  people  and 
approved  by  heaven. 

It  was  expected  that  Hon.  James  Grant,  LL.D.,  of 
Iowa,  would  respond  likewise  to  this  toast,  but  he 
was  detained  on  his  journey  by  the  floods. 

The  sixth  toast  was: 

President  David  L.  Swain    and   the  Faculty  and   Trustees  of 
His  A  dm  in  ist  ration . 

Responses  were  made  by  Hon.  R.  P.  Dick,  LL.D., 
and  Thomas  W.  Mason,  Esq.     Judge  Dick  said: 

I  certainly  feel  highly  complimented  by  the  action 
of  the  Alumni  Association  in  selecting  me  to  respond 
to  the  toast  just  announced,  but  they  greatly  over- 
estimate my  powers  in  supposing  that  I  could  con- 
dense such  an  interesting  and  suggestive  theme  into 
a  five  minutes'  speech. 

I  will  not  attempt  to  accomplish  an  impossibility. 


36  Centennial  Alumni  Banquet. 

I  would  as  soon  undertake  to  compress  the  Black 
Mountains  into  a  range  of  hills. 

I  can  take  only  a  general  view  of  the  subject,  and 
speak  of  those  noble  men  as  I  would  speak  of  the 
great  mountains  when  seen  through  the  dimness  of 
the  distance  in  the  beauty  and  grandeur  of  their 
sublime  repose. 

There  have  been  many  periods  in  the  past  when 
groups  of  great  men  exerted  their  combined  influ- 
ences in  illuminating  their  magnificent  age  and  in 
giving  impetus  to  human  progress.  I  will  briefly 
refer  to  a  few  familiar  historic  periods  made  illus- 
trious by  deeds  of  heroism,  patriotism  and  exalted 
genius.  I  will  refer  to  the  century  ushered  in  by  the 
reign  of  Pericles  in  Athens:  to  the  Augustan  age: 
to  the  Renaissance  in  Modern  Europe:  to  the  Eliza- 
bethan era:  to  the  Protestant  Reformation:  to  the 
Long  Parliament,  the  Revolution  of  1688,  and 
the  times  of  "Good  Queen  Anne":  to  those  days 
when  Chatham.  Burke,  Eox,  Pitt  and  their  worthy 
associates  exbibited  the  splendid  resources  of  the 
English  tongue,  and  the  noble  thoughts  and  emo- 
tions of  the  English  mind  and  heart,  and  last  I  will 
refer  to  the  greatest  period  of  them  all  —  a  period 
which  we  now  celebrate  with  centennial  rejoicing  — 
when  the  heroes,  patriots  and  statesmen,  sages  of 
America,  struggled  for  and  established  the  principles 


Centennial  Alumni  Banquet.  o7 

of  constitutional  freedom  and  founded  our  great 
Republic. 

If  I  was  requested  to  designate  the  greatest  period 
of  North  Carolina's  moral  and  intellectual  greatness. 
I  would  select  the  period  from  1840  to  1860.  In 
those  days  there  were  many  men  of  exalted  intel- 
lects, refined  culture,  ardent  patriotism,  broad  sym- 
pathies and  noble  virtues,  whose  achievements  con- 
tributed greatly  to  our  State  progress  and  renown.  I 
will  not  enumerate  them,  as  their  names  are  familiar 
to  this  audience,  and  most  of  them  were  Trustees  of 
this  University. 

In  referring  to  President  Swain  and  the  Faculty  of 
his  administration,  I  will  not  claim  that  they  were 
more  accomplished  scholars  and  teachers  than  the 
present  Faculty.  My  affectionate  partiality  fur  my 
old  teachers  will  not  induce  me  to  do  manifest  injus- 
tice or  misrepresent  well-recognized  facts. 

In  the  last  fifty  years  civilization  has  made  more 
progress  in  moral  and  intellectual  culture  and  devel- 
opment than  in  the  five  preceding  centuries.  The 
present  Faculty  have  had  all  the  advantages  of  this 
rapidly-advancing  progress.  They  have  kept  in  the 
van-guard,  and  they  are  —  and  they  ought  to  be  — 
more  learned  and  skilful  teachers  and  scholars  than 
their  predecessors  of  my  college  days. 

But  I  will,  now  and  ever,  insist  that  my  old  teach- 
ers were  grand   Christian  sages  and  philosophers, 


38  Centennial  Alumni  Banquet. 

and  were  eminent  among  the  teachers  of  moral  and 
intellectual  progress  in  their  day;  and  that  in  moral 
qualities  and  in  nobility  of  nature  and  purpose,  they 
are  deservedly  ranked  with  the  highest  types  of 
mankind,  and  can  never  be  surpassed  in  any  suc- 
ceeding age. 

As  the  name  of  President  Swain  has  been  men- 
tioned in  the  toast,  I  Avill  briefly  refer  to  him  as  a  rep- 
resentative man  of  his  associate  Faculty  and  Trustees. 
Forgive  me  for  calling  him  "Old  Bunk,"  for  that 
uncouth  nickname  touches  the  tenclerest  chords  of 
my  heart  and  awakens  their  sweetest  melodies.  It 
calls  up  memories  of  the  '"long-ago" — hallowed 
memories  which  I  have  fondly  cherished  through 
many  eventful  years  —  magical  memories,  which 
come  so  vividly  now  that  my  old  heart  thrills  with 
the  pure,  generous  and  joyous  emotions  of  my 
young  life. 

President  Swain  was  a  truly  great  man.  He  was 
highly  intellectual,  learned,  faithful  to  duty,  and 
noble-hearted.  He  was  an  eloquent  lecturer.  He 
had  none  of  the  graces  of  maimer  and  little  of 
the  elegance  of  classic  diction,  but  he  had  the  elo- 
quence of  profound  thought  and  rich  learning, 
expressed  in  the  strong,  earnest  language  of  sincere 
conviction  and  noble  purpose.  He  was  warmly 
attached  to  the  constitutional   Union  of  the  States. 


Centennial  Ahimni  Banquet.  39 

His  love  and  devotion  to  North  Carolina  and  this 
University  was  an  ever-glowing  enthusiasm;  He 
had  paternal  affection  for  his  boys  —  even  the  bad 
boys  were  objects  of  his  tender  solicitude  and  for- 
bearing care. 

I  wish  the  "boys"  of  his  administration  had  been 
included  in  the  toast.  The  old  University  array 
would  then  have  been  complete.  I  ask  leave  to 
make  the  amendment  now.  I  can  never  forget  my 
dear  college  comrades,  for  their  images  are  photo- 
graphed upon  my  heart  forever.  Time  has  cast  no 
misty  veil  over  their  memories.  Some  of  them  are 
gray-haired  now,  and  many  are  in  the  grave,  but  I 
remember  with  tender  affection  the  genial,  generous 
and  warm -hearted  friends  of  those  far-off  sunny 
days,  and  those  rejuvenating  memories  and  associa- 
tions often  make  me  Avish  that  "  I  were  a  boy  again." 

The  last  time  that  I  met  President  Swain  was  in 
Washington  City,  in  May,  1865.  Our  old  State  had 
been  overrun  and  devastated  by  conquering  armies,, 
and  our  distressed  people  were  apprehensive  of  other 
and  more  direful  disasters.  Notwithstanding  the 
inconveniences  and  dangers  of  travel  in  those  dis- 
ordered and  lawless  times,  he  went  to  Washington 
to  plead  for  generosity  and  justice  to  his  afflicted 
fellow-citizens.  He  had  never  contributed  to  the 
bitterness  of  feeling  engendered  by  partisan  strife. 


40  Centennial  Alumni  Banquet 

He  had  not  stood  in  the  battle-line,  where  so  many 
patriotic  and  gallant  sons  of  North  Carolina  had 
fought  and  fallen,  but  he  willingly  placed  himself 
in  what  he  regarded  a  dreadful  breach  in  the  ram- 
parts of  constitutional  government,  and  bravely 
breasted  the  inrolling  billows  of  sectional  prejudice 
and  hatred,  and  heroically  strove  to  stay  the  tides  of 
civil  injustice  and  wrong. 

Brother  Alumni,  I  have  exhausted  the  time  limit 
allowed  me  by  your  committee  of  invitation  and 
arrangements:  I  have  spoken  of  President  Swain  as 
a  representative  man  of  the  University  and  I  have 
alluded  in  general  terms  to  his  associate  Faculty, 
but  I  feci  that  my  duty  of  affection  will  be  very 
incompletely  performed  on  this  occasion  unless  I  refer 
with  more  particularity  to  my  recollections  and 
impressions  of  my  old  teachers,  to  whom  I  owe  such 
a  large  debt  of  gratitude. 

I  claim  your  kind  forbearance  while  I  dwell  for  a 
few  minutes  more  upon  the  pleasing  memories  of 
my  college  days. 

I  will  forget  for  a  moment  the  reverence  due  the 
memory  of  Professor  Mitchell,  and  speak  of  him  as 
"'Old  Mike."  With  the  students  this  was  not  a  name 
of  derision,  but  was  generalhy  used  in  kindness  and 
affection  —  and  it  was  not  displeasing  to  him.  In 
his  social  intercourse  with  the  students  he  was  cheer- 


Centennial  Alumni  Banquet.  41 

ful  and  companionable,  and  generally  manifested 
paternal  kindness.  In  the  class-room  he  would 
sometimes  tell  illustrative  anecdotes,  and  often 
indulge  in  playful  witticism,  and  was  never  offended 
at  good-natured  repartee  on  the  part  of  the  boys. 

His  knowledge  seemed  to  be  almost  universal, 
extending  from  the  simplest  affairs  of  e very-day  life 
to  the  sublimest  moral  truths  and  the  most  exalted 
theories  and  speculations  of  science. 

I  often  heard  the  statement  made  that  he  was 
competent  to  till,  with  credit,  any  professorship  in 
the  University. 

His  abundant  stores  of  knowledge  were  a  disad- 
vantage to  him  as  a  popular  preacher.  He  could 
never  stick  to  his  text,  His  inquisitive  and  discursive 
mind  would  go  forth  into  the  broad  fields  of  learn- 
ing and  science,  where  he  had  diligently  labored, 
and  he  would  try  to  bring  home  to  his  hearers  some 
of  the  golden  sheaves  of  his  former  harvest. 

His  lectures  and  experiments  in  the  laboratory  were 
interesting  and  instructive  to  diligent  and  attentive 
students,  but  they  made  no  lasting  impression  upon 
my  mind.  Such  knowledge  was  too  wonderful  for 
me,  and  past  finding  out, 

My  most  pleasant  recollections  of  Professor  Mitch- 
ell are  those  associated  with  the  rambles  which  he 
sometimes  made  with  the  class  through  the  woods 


42  Centennial  Alumni  Banquet. 

and  over  the  hills.  He  would  often  pluck  a  wild 
flower,  or  pnll  up  a  forest  plant,  or  break  a  rock  with 
his  hammer  and  eagerly  endeavor  to  show,  to  rather 
inattentive  boys,  the  wonders  and  beauties  which 
they  displayed.  In  them  he  could  see  the  skilful 
handiwork  of  Divine  power,  and  he  would  often 
speak  earnestly  and  eloquently  of  the  wisdom  and 
goodness  of  the  Creator.  I  sincerely  regret  that  I 
could  not  share  in  his  enthusiasm  or  comprehend  the 
knowledge  he  tried  to  impart,  for  if  I  could  have 
done  so,  I  feel  sure  that  I  would  have  become  a  wiser 
and  better  man. 

Professor  Mitchell  made  extensive  explorations  for 
the  purpose  of  acquiring  knowledge  of  the  geological 
formations  and  mineral  resources  of  North  Carolina. 
In  these  periodical  investigations  and  researches  he 
visited  nearly  every  section  of  the  State  from  the 
mountains  to  the  sea. 

Whenever  I  think  of  his  many  pedestrian  journeys 
and  his  difficulties  of  travel,  I  am  reminded  of  the 
old  prophet  Elisha  in  his  frequent  journeys  from  the 
valley  of  the  Jordan  over  the  blue  mountains  of 
Israel,  among  the  green  pastures  and  fruitful  gar- 
dens of  Carmel,  and  then  up  through  the  forest 
slopes  to  his  solitary  abode  among  the  cliffs.  Both 
of  them  were  men  of  God  and  lovers  of  nature: 
both  were  fervid  in  their  patriotism,  and  both  labored 
continuously  for  the  welfare  of  their  fellow-men. 


Centennial  Alumni  Banquet.  48 

I  will  call  Professor  Mitchell  "  Old  Mike  "  no  more. 
The  solemn  circumstances  of  his  death  have  followed 
his  memory.  At  the  time  of  the  sad  occurrence  the ' 
people  of  North  Carolina  and  the  lovers  of  science 
everywhere  deplored  his  loss  with  profound  sorrow, 
but  the  manner  and  place  of  his  death  have  added 
greatly  to  his  fame.  He  has  now  a  grand  sepulchre 
and  monument  that  will  be  as  enduring  as  time.  In 
the  last  awful  hours  of  his  mortal  existence  he  had- 
no  human  companions,  but  like  Moses  on  the  Pisgah 
summit  of  Abarim,  he  was  with  Jehovah  and  the 
angels,  and  from  the  dark  mountains  of  earth  his 
immortal  spirit  passed  to  the  everlasting  hills  bright 
with  ever  resplendent  lights  and  fragrant  with  the 
balmy  odors  of  Paradise. 

When  I  think  of  Professor  Phillips,  his  image  is 
before  my  mind  in  the  dignity  and  majesty  of 
advanced  but  still  vigorous  manhood,  and  his  col- 
lege name  instinctively  comes  to  my  lips,  dear,  noble 
"Old  Johnnie." 

If  he  was  a  fair  representative  man  of  the  Eng- 
lish race,  I  am  not  surprised  that  they  are  a  great 
people.  His  physical  and  mental  structure  were 
both  sturdy,  strong  and  full  of  energy  and  power, 
and  his  moral  nature  was  adorned  with  all  the 
Christian  virtues.  He  was  usually  cordial  and  sin- 
cere in  social  intercourse,  and  whenever  there  was 


44  Centennial  Alumni  Banquet. 

apparent  abruptness  in  his  voice  and  manner  it  never 
amounted  to  rudeness,  for  there  was  a  merry  twinkle 
in  his  eyes  and  his  honest  face  beamed  with  benevo- 
lence. 

He  had  a  well  established  reputation  for  ability 
and  learning.  I  had  a  fair  standing  in  my  class,  and 
usually  obtained  a  good  recitation  mark,  but  the 
higher  branches  of  mathematics  were  never  so  clear 
'to  me  as  the  sunlight.  I  cannot  speak  with  the  con- 
fident assurance  of  personal  knowledge  as  to  Profes- 
sor Phillips'  proficiency  in  his  department.  I  know 
positively  that  he  was  a  good  preacher.  He  was  an 
earnest,  eloquent  and  learned  divine,  and  always 
made  a  profound  impression  on  his  hearers.  His 
prayers  were  sometimes  very  long,  but  they  were 
never  wearisome  to  his  congregation,  for  they  felt  that, 
in  devout  faith,  he  approached  near  the  Mercy  Seat 
and  was  pleading  fervently  for  them.  Every  one 
acquainted  with  his  blameless  and  holy  Christian  life 
feels  well  assured  that  lie  is  now  among  the  great 
multitude  that  stand  before  the  throne  where  "  the 
four  and  twenty  elders"  hold  the  golden  vials. 

Professor  Fetter  was  too  kind-hearted  and  too  gen- 
tle in  his  nature  for  an  efficient  disciplinarian.  He 
did  not  know  how  to  scold.  He  sometimes  endeav- 
ored to  administer  severe  reproof,  but  he  was  very 
awkward  in  such  attempts,  and  in  a  short  time  he 


Centennial  Alumni  Banquet.  45 

seemed  to  be  sorry  for  what  he  had  said.  He  was 
an  accomplished  Greek  scholar,  and  seemed  to  fully 
appreciate  the  genius  and  richness  of  that  harmo- 
nious and  inimitable  language.  He  was  always 
delighted  when  he  had  the  opportunity  of  explain- 
ing the  significations  of  words  and  the  structure  of 
sentences,  which  the  boys,  with  the  aid  of  transla- 
tions and  lexicons,  could  not  fully  understand.  The 
solution  of  difficulties  and  obscurities  was  to  him 
the  highest  pleasure.  He  seemed  to  have  a  special 
fondness  for  the  Greek  particles,  and  would  try  to 
show  their  peculiar  shades  of  meaning  in  the  places 
where  they  were  found.  He  was  like  a  jeweler 
exhibiting  precious  gems  and  holding  them  in  dif- 
ferent positions  in  the  light  to  make  them  reflect 
the  delicate  and  exquisite  beauties  of  their  varying 
radiance.  I  am  pleased  to  know  that  he  had  a  long 
and  honored  life,  and  was  a  faithful  and  successful 
educator  even  in  old  age. 

While  in  college  I  could  never  get  near  enough  to 
Professor  Hooper  to  become  acquainted  with  his  per- 
sonal qualities.  He  was  by  no  means  companionable 
with  the  boys.  He  was  the  most  rigid  disciplinarian 
among  the  Faculty.  He  was  always  fair  and  just  in 
his  deportment,  respectful  and  courteous  in  his  inter- 
course, but  he  never  allowed  the  slightest  wilful  dis- 
turbance or  inattention  in  the  class-room.    He  alwavs 


4b'  Centennial  Alumni  Banquet. 

regarded  himself  as  "  master  of  the  situation,"  and 
he  asserted  his  authority  with  firmness.  Xo  student 
ever  tested  his  incisive  repartee  and  pungent  reproof 
more  than  one  time.  His  mind  was  as  clear  as  a 
diamond,  and  he  was  quick  in  his  perceptions.  He 
seemed  to  read  and  understand  the  Latin  with  as 
much  ease  as  if  it  was  his  mother-tongue.  In  my 
occasional  association  with  him  in  after-life,  I  found 
him  to  be  a  genial  and  companionable  Christian 
gentleman. 

Professor  Green  was  the  most  amiable  man  that 
I  ever  knew.  I  never  saw  him  angry,  or  even 
manifest  feelings  of  impatience.  He  was  naturally 
good,  and  his  character  and  deportment  were  softened 
by  time  and  refined  by  intellectual  culture  and  by 
the  constant  observance  and  practice  of  the  Chris- 
tian virtues.  He  was  faithful  and  efficient  in  the 
performance  of  his  duties  as  a  professor,  and  in  all 
the  relations  of  life.  As  I  remember  him  now,  he 
seems  to  me  to  have  possessed  some  of  the  spirit  of 
St.  John  —  not  in  the  times  of  his  aroused  and  im- 
pulsive energy,  when  he  was  a  Boanerges,  but  when 
he  leaned  his  head  upon  his  Master's  bosom:  when 
he  stood,  with  sympathetic  tenderness  and  emotion, 
by  the  cross,  and  when  he  wrote  his  gospel,  pathetic 
with  divine  love.  Bishop  Green  reached  a  very 
advanced  age,  and  his  holy  life  won  the  affectionate 
veneration  of  all  denominations  of  Christians. 


Centennial  Alumni  Banquet.  47 

Professor  Charles  F.  Deems  came  to  Chapel  Hill 
during  my  senior  year.  He  was  then  quite  a  young- 
man.  My  association  with  him  was  very  pleasant, 
but  I  have  no  distinct  recollection  of  his  reputation 
as  a  scholar  and  teacher.  He  was  a  very  attractive 
preacher,  and  I  remember  well  the  impression  pro- 
duced upon  the  students  by  the  Twelve  College  Ser- 
mons which  he  afterwards  published. 

His  style  of  composition  was  rich  and  elegant. 
His  imagination  was  fertile  and  brilliant,  His  lan- 
guage fluent  and  rhythmical.  His  manner  of  deliv- 
ery was  easy  and  graceful,  and  his  voice  was  well 
trained  and  musical.  He  lias  been  an  eminent  and 
useful  preacher,  lecturer,  Christian  worker  and  edu- 
cator for  nearly  fifty  years.  He  has  published  many 
valuable  books  and  magazine  articles,  and  he  is 
still  in  the  active  performance  of  duties  to  God  and 
to  his  fellow-men.  He  is  now  pastor  of  "  The 
Church  of  the  Strangers,"  which  he  founded  many 
years  ago  in  New  York  City.  He  is  justly  regarded 
as  a  learned  scholar  and  theologian  and  one  of  the 
most  eloquent  pulpit  orators  in  America. 

I  cannot  close  this  hasty  sketch  of  mv  college 
reminiscences  without  referring  to*  Professors  Owen 
and  Graves. 

I  never  met  them  in  the  class-room.  They  were 
then  tutors  and  had  bed-rooms  in  the  college.     They 


48  Centennial  Alumni  Banquet. 

were  expected  to  exercise  vigilant  supervision  of  the 
boys.  They  were  rather  inefficient  in  police  duty. 
The  boys  always  knew  when  they  were  about.  They 
were  not  active  and  strategic  in  catching  the  boys 
in  mischief.  They  seemed  to  prefer  scaring  them 
into  quietude  and  good  behavior.  They  were  not 
anxious  and  ready  to  make  reports  to  the  Faculty. 
They  were  good  scholars,  faithful  and  instructive 
teachers  and  refined  Christian  gentlemen.  They 
well  deserve  the  honorable  reputation  which  they 
acquired,  and  which  has  been  perpetuated  in  the 
records  of  this  University  and  in  the  educational 
history  of  the  .State. 

As  I  now  contemplate  President  Swain  and  his 
associate  Trustees,  Faculty  and  students,  I  rejoice 
that  some  of  them  still  live — and  some  are  here 
to-day — venerated  patriots,  grandly  linking  the  pros- 
perous and  splendid  present  with  the  glorious  past. 
As  the  noble  army  of  the  dead  pass  in  solemn  pro- 
cession before  the  eye  of  my  memory,  I  feel  that  no 
words  can  add  to  their  well-merited  fame.  Their 
work  on  earth  was  nobly  done.  They  have  left  a 
rich  inheritance  of  virtue,  truth  and  example  to 
their  country  and  mankind,  and  they  have  entered 
upon  their  reward  and  upon  the  everlasting  rest. 

Good  men,  great  men.  grand  old  men,  J  bid  you 
hail,  and  farewell  until  we  meet  again  in  the  eternal 
Lome. 


Centennial  Alumni  Banquet.  49 

Brave  old  man !  As  long  as  the  principles  of  consti- 
utional  freedom  shall  control  the  destinies  of  North 
Carolina,  his  name  will  be  honored  and  loved.  As 
long  as  this  University  shall  stand,  he  will  have  a 
worthy  monument  — and  may  it  endure  forever  — 
and  as  century  after  century  shall  move  by  in  the 
majestic  march  of  the  ages,  may  it  be  reared  higher 
and  higher  amidst  the  effulgent  lights  of  advancing 
knowledge  and  eternal  truth. 

Mr.  Mason  also  spoke  in  response  to  the  sixth 
toast : 

1  am  heartily  glad  that  you  have,  thus  early  at 
our  banquet,  given  place  to  our  old  friends.  I 
delight  to  think  of  them.  I  should  be  happy  to  call 
each  one  of  them  by  name  —  these  faithful  husband- 
men in  this  vineyard  of  our  Constitution.  Not 
many  of  them  will  ever  be  present  with  us  again. 
On  the  tenth  of  the  last  month,  one  of  them,  and  an 
honored  one,  Rev.  Charles  Phillips,  who  wrought 
here  through  all  the  best  years  of  his  manhood,  bade 
us  good-by  and  soon  passed  forever  from  our  long- 
ing eyes.  And  so,  too,  within  a  year  past,  have 
departed,  in  peace  and  honor,  Professor  Fetter  and 
Dr.  Hubbard,  and  earlier  my  honored  instructor, 
Professor  DeBerniere  Hooper.  Earlier  still,  from  the- 
circle  of  those  whom  many  of  us  here  present  knew 
4 


50  Centennial  Alumni  Banquet. 

intimately,  have  gone  in  their  green  old  age  Dr. 
Wheat  and  Dr.  James  Phillips,  and  that  other  great 
teacher  who,  by  the  light  of  truth  and  science,  reared 
his  monument  upon  our  noblest  mountain — Elisha 
Mitchell. 

You  have  called  one  of  these  by  name  among  his 
co-laborers,  the  Honorable  David  L.  Swain,  who  was 
their  type  and  leader  through  the  years  from  1835, 
when  he  became  the  President  of  the  University, 
until  the  hand  of  war  closed  its  portals,  and  soon 
thereafter  death  closed  his  mortal  vision,  troubled 
by  the  ruin  about  him.  It  was  my  good  fortune  to 
be  almost  a  member  of  his  household  through  the 
four  years  here  from  1854  to  1858.  What  happy  years 
they  were,  when  we  assembled  here,  more  than  four 
hundred  in  number,  from  half  the  States  of  our 
Union,  and  returning  to  our  homes  carried  with  us 
the  impress -of  those  who  shaped  and  guided  this 
institution,  and  who  taught  us,  with  whatever  else 
we  learned,  how  to  be  true  citizens — true  to  the  State 
and  true  to  our  fellow-man ! 

I  saw  Governor  Swain  daily,  not  as  President  and 
teacher  only,  but — I  speak  it  with  emotions  of  grati- 
tude— as  my  friend.  I  am  sure  I  knew  something 
of  the  motives,  the  sympathies  that  'moved  him. 
His  eye  of  sympathy  and  his  heart  of  tenderness 
went  with  us  here  and  everywhere,  and  into  every 


Centennial  Alumni  Banquet.  51 

field  of  endeavor,  rejoicing  with  us  in  our  victories 
and  sorrowing  with  us  in  our  defeats.  He  never 
lost  sight  of  a  Chapel  Hill  boy!  As  his  venerated 
form  comes  before  me  now,  knowing  him  as  I  am 
sure  I  did,  let  me  .say  to  you,  North  Carolina  had  no 
child  within  her  borders  nearer  to  her  heart  than 
he,  and  none  who  felt  with  keener  or  more  responsive 
sense  her  every  throb  of  joy  or  of  sorrow. 

As  I  look  back  at  these  old  friends,  I  am  more  and 
more  persuaded  that  this  broad  synipathy  of  theirs, 
subjecting  the  drill  and  learning  of  the  intellect  to 
the  behests  of  the  State  and  the  demands  of  social 
duty,  drew  the  hearts  of  the  people  to  this  University 
and  placed  it,  where  it  proudly  stood,  among  the 
most  cherished  and  influential  literary  institutions 
of  our  country.  Not  only  was  it  the  child  of  our 
Constitution,  it  was  the  very  life  and  soul  and  genius 
of  North  Carolina,  flying  her  colors  always,  followed 
by  tender  prayers  and  watched  by  eager,  loving 
eyes,  from  all  her  shores,  through  the  peaceful  as  well 
as  the  perilous  seas  of  its  voyage. 

Can  we  ever  forget  these  old  friends?  Their  calm, 
heroic,  generous  spirit  moving  the  life  of  our  people 
has  written  some  of  the  most  beautiful  and  some  of 
the  most  glorious  chapters  in  the  history  of  our 
country.  The  spirit  —  the  life  they  gave  to  us  —  has 
macle  possible  this  re-union,  ever  to  be  remembered 


52  Centennial  Alumni  Banquet. 

by  us  whose  forms  and  faces,  fast  lading  from  each 
other  into  the  cold  twilight  of  years,  touched  by  its 
warm  light,  glow  again  with  all  the  happy  love  of 
our  brotherhood.  That  spirit,  cherished  as  I  know  it 
is,  assured  by  all  that  I  have  seem  and  felt  here,  will 
yet  draw  the  hearts  of  our  people  to  this  seat  of 
learning  with  that  love  and  reverence  we  bear  to 
those  whom.  Mr.  President,  you  have  named  with 
honor  and  whom  we  delight  to  remember  —  Hon. 
David  L.  Swain  and  the  Faculty  and  Trustees  of  his 
administration. 

Tlie  seventh  toast  was: 

President    Kemp  P.    Battle  and  the    Faculty  and   Trustees   of 
h  is  A  dm  in  ist  ration . 

Responses  were  made  by  A.  H.  Eller  and  R.  \Y. 
\\  niborne,  Esqrs.     Mr.  Eller  said : 

One  whose  foot-prints  have  hardly  faded  from  the 
threshold  of  his  Alma  Mater,  and  who  is  still  within 
the  shadow  of  the  great  preceptors  and  exemplars 
who  have  moulded  his  thought  and  shaped  his  in- 
tellectual life,  cannot  clearly  analyze  their  charac- 
ters or  estimate  their  worth — he  equals  such  a  task 
only  after  the  lapse  of  years,  when  he  views  them 
in  distant  retrospection.  I  recall  the  thought  of 
Chancellor  Kent,  who  contemplated  the  works  of  the 


Centennial  Alumni  Banquet.  53 

greatest  master  of  the  common  law  "  with  admira- 
tion and  despair,"  when  I  attempt  a  tribute  to  the 
life  and  labors  of  President  Kemp  P.  Battle  and  the 
Faculty  and  Trustees  of  his  administration.  As  stood 
Petrarch  and  his  co-laborers  and  patrons  to  the 
Renaissance,  so  stand  these  men  to  the  revival  of 
learning  in  North  Carolina.  When  these  clustered 
edifices,  which  crown  this  far-famed  Hill,  had  been 
nursed  in  the  lap  of  war  and  left  wrapped  in  dilapi- 
dation as  bare  and  squalid  as  the  woof  and  warp  of 
ruin,  who  mantled  them  in  new  beauty  and  ani- 
mated them  to  a  life  of  more  splendid  usefulness 
than  they  had  yet  known?  Who  took  up  the  tra- 
ditions of  a  University,  the  antiquated  methods  and 
appliances  of  which  had  been  abandoned  by  our 
generation,  and  with  the  foresight  of  genius  readily 
adapted  it  to  the  wants  of  a  new  civilization  and 
gave  it  a  commanding  influence  in  the  South-east  of 
our  Republic?  Who  foresaw  the  ravages  of  time 
upon  the  sacred  memories  of  our  illustrious  dead 
and  perpetuated  their  mighty  examples  in  a  memo- 
rial building,  which  stands  there  the  cynosure  of 
all  eyes,  the  pride  of  our  State,  an  example  to  the 
world?  Who  grappled  with  the  stubborn  conser- 
vatism of  successive  Legislatures,  foiled  the  thrust  of 
jealousy  aimed  by  imaginary  rivalry  between  this 
and  other  institutions,  and  exploded  the  wide-spread 


54  Centennial  Alumni  Banquet. 

superstition  that  an  immoral  spirit,  begot  by  the 
riotous  youth  of  ante  helium  days,  still  lurks  and  hides 
in  the  hallowed  retreats  about  Chapel  Hill?  Who, 
with  the  chisel  and  mallet  of  truth,  carved  a  way 
through  these  barriers  and  veered  the  stream  of 
patronage,  which  flowed  strong  and  steady  to  other 
States,  back  to  its  ancient  home?  Who,  but  Presi- 
dent Kemp  P.  Battle  and  his  worthy  compeers? 

Ours  is  an  era  of  centennials  —  occasions  where 
popular  acclaim  greets  the  orators  who  laud  the  dead 
and  criticise  the  living.  I  am  not  here  to  gainsay 
the  wisdom  or  the  justice  of  the  people's  voice  in 
response  to  this  sentiment  at  the  National  drama  on 
the  30th  of  last  April.  But,  on  behalf  of  the  Faculty 
and  Trustees  of  the  University  of  Xorth  Carolina,  I 
invite  both  friend  and  foe  to  turn  upon  this  admin- 
istration the  fiercest  light,  view  it  in  the  strong  glare 
of  criticism  or  the  gentle  glimmer  of  palliation,  and 
I  promise  you  a  picture  without  a  blot,  an  institu- 
tion which  represents  a  century's  growth  without  a 
century's  vices,  —  one  whose  morale  calls  not  for  a 
Potter's  sermon  to  "  ring  out  like  a  fire-bell  in  the 
night," 

Standing,  as  we  do,  on  the  golden  threshold  of  a 
second  century,  filled  with  fond  and  tender  memo- 
ries of  the  past,  with  the  sacred  legends  of  liberty 
and  the  birth  of  famous  institutions,  it  is  easy  for  a 


Centennial  Alumni  Banquet.  55 

people  imbued  with  peculiar  reverence  for  the  wis- 
dom of  the  past  to  forget  that  among  the  living  may 
be  found  their  greatest  benefactors.  As  long  as 
coming  generations  shall  gather  at  this  temple  of 
learning,  as  long  as  time  shall  last,  may  the  exam- 
ples set  up  by  Presidents  Caldwell  and  Swain  never 
be  forgotten:  the  one  struggling  to  keep  alive  the 
Christian  religion,  the  other  to  keep  ablaze  the  torch 
of  learning  ;  the  one  against  the  furious  thraldom  of 
infidelity,  the  other  against  'the  fearful  odds  of  war; 
the  one  with  success  as  glorious  as  the  dawn,  the 
other  still  holding  in  his  hand  the  flickering  light 
when  his  own  illustrious  life  went  down  like  the  sun 
sinking  behind  a  mountain,  kindling  upon  every 
peak  a  blaze  of  glory  and  pouring  a  flood  of  golden 
light  upon  the  clouds  which  hung  their  solemn 
drapery  about  his  dying  couch.  Such  deeds  need 
but  the  pen  of  genius  to  live  amongst  the  grandest 
spectacles  of  which  history  keeps  the  record. 

It  were  irreverent  to  compare  the  living  with  the 
dead.  But,  to  my  mind,  the  man  who  forsook  the 
highest  possibilities  known  to  a  learned  and  an 
honored  profession ;  who  flooded  the  feeble  stream  of 
our  University's  life  with  the  strong  current  of  his 
own;  who,  with  the  courage  of  a  patriot,  the  forti- 
tude of  a  martyr,  the  learning  of  a  master,  and  the 
love  of  a  father,  has  for  fourteen  years  presided  over 


56  Centennial  Alumni  Banquet: 

her  destinies  and  wooed  success  when  success  fled 
before  him  as  upon  the  wings  of  the  morning  —  that 
man  has  builded  for  himself  a  monument  over- 
shadowed only  by  his  own  great  and  useful  life;  but 
when  years  have  passed  away,  and  the  twilight  has 
spread  its  soft  folds  about  him,  and  the  shadows  of 
the  past  have  gathered  around  his  memory,  its  "  linea- 
ments will  stand  forth  like  the  outlines  of  some 
distant  mountain  whose  greatness  we  can  only  grasp 
when  we  view  it  from  afar." 

Mr.  Wmbofne  said,  in  response  to  the  same  toast: 

Since  the  Apostle  to  the  Gentiles  sat  at  the  feet  of 
Gamaliel,  the  great  luminaries  of  learning  have  held 
a  higher  place  in  the  esteem  of  men.  Through  the 
beneficence  of  their  lives  they  have  become  more 
and  more  the  benefactors  of  their  race.  But  from 
that  hoary  past  to  the  present  none  have  shone  more 
brightly  or  merited  more  commendation  than  those 
who  have  nurtured  the  new  life  of  our  own  Alma 
Mater. 

Her  present  honored  President  and  his  coadjutors 
assumed  control  at  a  time  when  despotism  and  igno- 
rance had  exhausted  her  already  depleted  treasury 
and  dismantled  her  proud  altars.  She  was  a  seat  of 
learning  but  in    name.     The   glory  of  her  former 


Centennial  Alumni  Banquet.  57 

prestige  was  hardly  more  than  a  memory,  and  it 
seemed  as  if  her  fountains  of  knowledge  had  forever 
run  dry. 

Under  such  inauspicious  surroundings  their  noble 
work  was  begun.  For  fourteen  years  they  have 
labored  for  her  upbuilding  and  advancement.  By 
their  fostering  care  she  has  steadily  grown  stronger 
and  better,  until  to-day,  regenerated  and  redeemed, 
she  stands  forth  once  more  as  the  pride  of  our  State, 
and,  arrayed  in  the  panoply  of  her  own  merit,  is  fully 
equipped  grandly  to  begin  this  her  second  century 
of  usefulness  to  humanity  and  to  God.  All  honor  to 
such  noble  men!  Let  us  sustain  them  and  help  them. 
But  do  our  duty  as  they  do  theirs,  and  the  efful- 
gent light  of  knowledge,  which  streams  from  her 
re-kindled  altars,  will  dissipate  the  last  vestige  of 
ignorance  that  beclouds  our  future,  and  hasten  the 
dawning  of  that  brighter  day  when  the  "  Old  North 
State,"  hearkening  to  the  drum-beat  of  knowledge, 
shall  stand  among  the  foremost  of  her  sisters  in  the 
grand  march  of  progress  and  education. 

The  eighth  toast  was: 

The  Confederate  Dead  of  the  University. 

Response  was  made  by  Col.  Thomas  S.  Kenan : 
No  eulogy  that  I  could  pronounce  would  increase 


58  Centennial  Alumni  Banquet. 

our  respect  for  the  memory  of  those  who  died  in 
defence  of  the  "Lost  Cause." 

Xo  language  at  my  command  will  excite  us  to  a 
greater  degree  of  appreciation  of  the  character  of  the 
dutiful  soldier.  Xo  words  known  to  me  can  have 
the  effect  of  kindling  in  our  hearts  a  more  ardent 
love  for  those  whose  response  to  authoritative  call  for 
service  was  so  cheerfully  and  patriotically  given. 
Men  of  the  University  constituted  a  conspicuous  ele- 
ment in  the  grand  army  of  the  South — grand  in  the 
material  composing  it — grand  in  its  achievements 
and  reverses,  and  in  all  its  history.  They  shared  in 
the  honors  of  victory  and  in  the  calamities  of  defeat. 
Some  were  commanders,  while  others  yielded  obedi- 
ence— there  were  officers  and  privates  among  them; 
and  all  contributed  to  the  renown  which  has  been 
justly  accorded  to  the  '"boys  who  wore  the  gray." 

In  nearly  every  department  of  the  Confederate 
Government  there  was  a  representative  of  this  Insti- 
tution. Under  almost  all  the  circumstances  and  con- 
ditions of  the  Confederate  soldier,  whether  adverse 
or  propitious,  might  be  found  one  whose  name  is 
upon  the  roll  of  Chapel  Hill  students.  T  remember 
that  after  1  was  wounded  and  captured  at  Gettys- 
burg and  taken  to  Johnson  Island,  in  Lake  Erie,  I 
suggested  to  a  fellow-prisoner  and  class-mate  (Maj. 
Robert  Bingham)  the  propriety  of  sending  to  Gov- 


Centennial  Alnmni  Banquet.  59 

ernor  Swain,  then  President  of  the  University,  the 
names  of  the  prisoners  of  war  at  that  place  who  had 
been  students  here;  and  he  accordingly  prepared  a 
list  which  contained  the  names  of  thirty-five,  and 
transmitted  the  same  to  Governor  Swain.  T  was 
informed  that  this  list  was  frequently  read  by  him 
to  the  students,  and  commented  on  as  an  illustration 
of  the  fact  that  "Chapel  Hill  boys"  could  be  found 
almost  everywhere  and  taking  a  prominent  part  in 
the  events  of  the  day:  that  a  number  of  them  were 
then  in  Northern  prisons,  undergoing  the  privations 
incident  thereto — overcome  by  the  misfortunes  of 
war — but  all  brought  about  in  the  discharge  of  duty 
and  endured  with  heroic  fortitude. 

Two  hunded  and  sixty  of  the  Alumni  were  num- 
bered among  the  Confederate  dead  at  the  close  of  the 
war,  as  shown  by  a  list  gotten  up  by  Col.  W.  L. 
Saunders  some  years  ago,  and  from  which  I  have 
made  the  following  classification:  One  Lieutenant 
General,  four  Brigadier  CJenerals,  eleven  Colonels, 
eight  Lieutenant  Colonels,  thirteen  Majors,  seventy- 
sirx  Captains,  fifty-six  Lieutenants,  fourteen  Sergeants, 
three  Corporals,  sixty-eight  Privates,  two  Color  Ser- 
geants, one  Sergeant  Major,  one  volunteer  Aide- 
de-Camp,  one  Surgeon  and  one  Assistant  Surgeon. 

Their  names  are  recorded  upon  tablets  in  Memorial 
Hall,  and  among  them  may  be  found  those  of  Lieu- 


60  Centennial  Alumni  Banquet. 

tenant  General  Leonidas  Polk  and  Brigadier  Gen- 
erals Branch,  Pettigrew,  Garrott  and  George  B. 
Anderson ;  and  also  of  representatives  of  classes  cov- 
ering a  period  of  forty-three  years— beginning  with 
General  Polk,  of  the  class  of  1821,  and  ending  with 
Lieutenant  William  H.  G.  Webb  of  the  class  of  1864. 
Most  of  them  enlisted  as  private  soldiers,  and  the 
record  shows  that  a  very  large  number  were  subse- 
quently promoted.  This  may  be  accounted  for  by 
the  fact  that  many  of  the  Alumni  who  entered  the 
army  were  regarded  as  possessing  the  necessary 
qualifications  to  command,  and  the  result  proved 
that  this  was  true.  But  when  we  praise  the  officer 
for  ability  to  direct  and  courage  to  execute,  let  us  at 
the  same  time  remember  that  his  reputation  is 
grounded,  in  large  measure,  upon  the  faithfulness 
and  devotion  of  the  private  soldier;  for  it  was  he 
who  bore  the  brunt  of  battle;  it  was  he  who  suffered 
most.  I  have  seen,  and  others  here  to-day  have 
seen,  upon  the  battle-field,  exhibitions  of  some  of  the 
most  daring  acts  of  bravery,  coupled  with  an  exer- 
cise of  judgment  and  sagacity,  on  the  part  of  non- 
commissioned officers  and  privates,  within  the  sphere 
of  pending  operations,  as  would  have  done  credit  to 
one  skilled  in  the  art  of  war  and  trained  in  the  pro- 
fession of  arms  —  thus  giving  evidence  that  they 
were  "  men  of  war  from  their  youth."    In  after-years, 


Centennial  Alumni  Banquet.  61 

when  our  thoughts  recur  to  this  occasion,  and  to  the 
material  which  the  University  has  contributed  to 
the  service  of  the  country  in  its  diversified  require- 
ments, let  us  not  forget  to  do  honor  to  the  memory 
of  the  Confederate  Dead,  whose  deeds,  as  native 
American  soldiers,  should  stimulate  every  impulse  of 
honor  and  patriotism. 

The  ninth  toast  was: 

The  Alumni  who  have  Honored  the  State  and  Akttion  by 
their  Services  in  Public  Life,  at  the  Bar,  on  the  Bench,  in 
the  Ministry  or  as  Physicians. 

Responses : 

In  Public  Life:  Hon.  Hamilton  C.  Jones. 
At  the  Bar:  Hon.  Joseph  B.  Batchelor. 
On  the  Bench :  Hon.  A.  C.  Avery. 
In  the  Ministry:  Rev.  Thomas  E.  Skinner,  D.I). 
As  Physicians:  George  G.  Thomas,  M.  D. 
Hon.  Hamilton  C.  Jones  was  prevented  by  illness 
from  attending  the  banquet. 

Hon.  Joseph  B.  Batchelor  spoke  as  follows : 

The  Trojan  hero,  immortalized  by  the  greatest  of 
Roman  poets,  flying  from  the  ruins  of  his  own  city 
and  shipwrecked  by  the  anger  of  the  gods,  wandered 
to  the  city  of  the  beautiful  but  unfortunate  Dido. 


62  Centennial  Alumni  Banquet. 

Finding  there  pictures  representing  the  heroic  strug- 
gle of  his  people  against  the  allied  armies  of  Greece, 
he  exclaimed: 

"  Quis  jam  locus,        -        *        * 
Quce  regio  in  terris,  nostri  non  plena  laboris?" 

Thus  speaks  the  University  to-day.  Gathering- 
together  those  left  of  her  children,  who  have  been  nur- 
tured at  her  bosom  for  a  century  past,  she  exclaims: 
What  state,  what  region  of  this  our  vast  empire,  has 
not  tasted  the  fruit  of  my  labors;  has  not  shared  in 
the  rich  harvest  gathered  from  the  seeds  here  planted  ! 

in  every  field  of  labor,  in  every  pursuit  of  life,  in 
every  department  of  science  and  learning,  in  every 
trade  and  profession,  and  in  every  (/lime,  her  children 
have  lived  lives  and  won  honors  of  which  she  may 
well  be  proud.  In  no  department  is  this  more  evi- 
dent than  in  that  to  which  your  toast  alludes.  Pass- 
ing by  those  who  in  other  walks  of  life  have  won 
honor  and  deserved  well  of  their  fellow-men,  and 
looking  alone  to  those  who  have  devoted  themselves 
to  the  legal  profession  and  worn  out  their  lives  as 
lawyers  and  judges,  we  are  tilled  with  astonishment 
and  admiration  at  the  long  list  of  illustrious  names 
to  which  the  University  may  point  with  a  pride 
greater  even  than  that  with  which  ( 'ornelia  pointed 
to  her  jewels.     As  citizens  —  unknown  to  fame,  yet 


Centennial  Alumni  Banquet.  60 

worthy  of  every  honor  —  statesmen,  patriots,  even 
heroes  neglected,  though  their  memories  may  be 
possibly  forgotten  save  by  a  few,  yet  to-day  they  are 
living,  speaking,  controlling  by  the  lessons  which 
they  have  taught,  the  works  which  they  have  accom- 
plished, the  institutions  which  they  founded,  the 
principles  of  personal  liberty,  of  national  indepen- 
dence and  individual  manhood  which  they  planted 
and  nurtured. 

In  America,  as  in  England,  the  history  of  the  legal 
profession  has  been  the  history  of  the  struggle  for 
freedom.  In  no  contest — whether  in  the  forum,  in 
the  halls  of  legislation,  or  on  the  held  of  battle  when 
death-shots  fell  thick  and  fast  —  have  they  shirked 
the  responsibility  of  true  manhood,  but  with  self- 
sacrifice  and  devotion  to  principle  they  have  rushed 
where  duty  called,  and  proved  their  faith  by  their 
works.  Trained  by  their  studies  in  "the  perfect  law 
of  liberty,"  they  have  been  the  first  to  discover  the 
approach  of  danger,  and  as  faithful  sentinels  to  sound 
the  alarm.  Every  step  in  the  slow  but  upward  prog- 
ress of  human  right  is  marked  by  a  lawyer's  sacri- 
fice; not  one  stone  in  the  Temple  of  Liberty,  vast  as 
that -structure  has  grown,  which  is  not  hallowed  by 
a  lawyer's  blood. 

If  time  were  not  lacking,  it  would  be  a  labor  of 
love  to  call  the  roll  of  honor  and  to  commune  for  a 


64  Centennial  Alumni  Banquet. 

moment  with  those  whose  lives  and  thoughts  have 
illustrated  the  ages  in  which  they  lived,  and  whose 
silent  and  unseen  influence  is  felt  in  the  institutions 
around  us — monuments  which,  though  they  speak 
not,  yet,  in  language  more  powerful  than  words, 
testify  of  the  glorious  past. 

The  records  of  the  legal  profession  are  not  found 
in  the  rolls  of  the  courts  alone.  Important  as  these 
duties  have  been,  they  are  but  a  small  part  of  the 
work  which  it  has  accomplished  for  the  elevation  of 
man. 

When,  four  thousand  years  ago,  the  sunset  of  life 
gave  mystical  lore  to  the  Hebrew  patriarch,  he 
uttered  the  prophetic  promise,  "The  sceptre  shall 
not  depart  from  Judah,  nor  a  law-giver  from  between 
his  feet  until  Shiloh  come."  In  all  the  ages  which 
have  since  passed,  what  man  has  approached  the 
law-giver  of  Israel?  Before  the  most  enlightened 
nation  of  antiquity  knew  the  use  of  letters,  five  cen- 
turies before  Homer  sang  his  songs  in  the  streets  of 
Grecian  cities,  a  thousand  years  before  the  father  of 
history  was  born,  a  thousand  years  before  Confucius 
taught  his  rude  superstitions  to  the  people  of  China, 
he  promulgated  laws  which  have  stood  the  test  of 
over  three  thousand  years  of  experience,  have  borne 
the  blaze  of  light  shed  over  them  by  near  two  thou- 
sand  vears  of   Christian  civilization  and  progress, 


Centennial  Alumni  Banquet.  65 

and  still    stand    as  the  highest  rule  of  conduct  of 
which  man  is  capable. 

From  these  earliest  ages,  through  all  the  mutations 
of  time;  the  lawyer  and  the  law-giver  have  been 
honored  among  men.  Pioneers  of  thought,  teachers 
in  the  highest  schools  of  civilization,  their  progress 
has  but  marked  the  progress  of  humanity.  Ad- 
vancing first  with  slow  and  hesitating  steps,  appeal- 
ing to  the  power  of  reason  alone,  each  newly  dis- 
covered principle  became  the  stepping-stone  to  higher 
realms  of  thought.  With  an  energy  which  never 
tired,  a  devotion  which  never  faltered,  they  have 
labored  and  suffered  until,  at  last,  hope  ending  in 
fruition,  law,  the  universal  power  and  goddess  of 
their  worship,  stands  forth  in  all  the  beauty  of  per- 
fect symmetry  and  order  — the  image  and  glory  of 
the  great  Creator.  Centuries  may  come  and  centu- 
ries may  go;  under  the  corroding  touch  of  time 
dynasties  have  changed  and  dynasties  will  change  ; 
empires  have  sunk,  and  will  sink,  into  decay;  but 
time  aims  no  dart  at  her.  Exempt  from  mutability 
or  decay,  ages  but  add  new  beauty  to  her  youth ;  the 
vast  realms  of  creation  her  empire,  her  handmaidens 
Liberty,  Justice  and  Truth  ;  "  her  voice  the  harmony 
of  the  universe,  her  seat  the  bosom  of  God." 


66  Centennial  Alumni  Banquet. 

In  response  to  the  toast, 

The  Alumni  on  the  Bench, 

Judge  Avery  said : 

It  is  not  strange  that  boys  of  the  early  days  who 
had  been  subjected  to  severe  mental  drill  and  dis- 
cipline at  the  rural  academies  of  Dr.  Caldwell  of 
Guilford,  the  elder  Bingham,  or  AVilson  of  Mecklen- 
burg, should  have  mastered  mathematics  and  meta- 
physics under  the  teaching  of  Ker  of  Dublin,  Harris 
or  President  Caldwell,  the  pupil  of  Jonathan  Edwards. 
Men  taught  in  such  thorough  Scotch-Irish  schools 
were  content  with  nothing  short  of  the  clearest  views 
of  Coke.  Bacon  and  Blackstone. 

It  is  not  wonderful  that  the  Alumni  of  a  later  date, 
Avho  knew  the  big  heart,  the  strong  intellect,  the 
boundless  Christian  charity  and  unselfish  patriotism 
of  David  L.  Swain,  and  sat  at  the  feet  of  his  faith- 
ful and  learned  associates,  should  have  gone  forth 
with  a  broad  culture  and  a  liberal  catholic  spirit 
that  fitted  them,  in  temperament  and  character,  as 
well  as  in  habits  of  patient  research,  for  the  exercise 
of  judicial  power  and  the  decision  of  grave  legal 
questions. 

Archibald  Debow  Mnrphey,  of  the  class  of  1799. 
was  tutor,  professor,  and  then  Judge  of  the  Superior 
Courts  from  1818  to  1820:  but  Joseph  J.  Daniel,  an 


Centennial  Alumni  Banquet.  67 

irregular  of  the  next  decade,  selected  a  Judge  of  the 
Superior  Court  in  1816,  had  already  begun  a  judicial 
career  that  culminated  in  making  him  one  of  the 
clearest,  most  concise  and  correct  law-writers  of  his 
day.  John  R.  Donnell,  the  first-honor  man  of  the 
class  of  1807,  won  distinction  by  a  service  of  eighteen 
years  on  the  bench. 

The  polish  of  John  D.  Toomer,  the  power  of 
Romulus  M.  Saunders,  the  scholarship  of  Edward 
Hall  of  Warren,  and  the  versatile  talent  of  the 
brilliant  Willie  P.  Mangum  bore  evidence  of  the 
work  of  the  University  from  1810  to  1820.  Mangum 
was  twice  a  Circuit  Judge  and  twice  chosen  a  Sen- 
ator. Measured  either  by  the  position  he  attained 
(that  of  acting  Vice-President)  or  his  influence  over 
men,  North  Carolina  has  never  produced  his  superior. 

The  learning  of  Battle,  the  acumen  of  Pearson, 
the  accuracy  of  Manly  were  her  contributions  to 
our  highest  court  in  the  next  decade.  Judges  Mitch- 
ell and  Augustus  Moore  left  these  halls  in  the  same 
period  to  preside  in  our  Superior  Courts,  while  John 
Bragg  went  forth  to  place  himself  as  judge  and 
advocate  in  the  front  rank  of  Alabama  jurists,  and 
Nicholson  to  preside  as  Chief  Justice  of  Tennessee. 

Justices  Ashe,  Dillard  and  Rodman,  and  Judge 
J.  W.  Osborne,  of  the  graduates  between  1830  and 
1840,  honored  their  Alma  Mater  in  winning  dis- 
tinction for  themselves. 


68  Centennial  Alumni  Banquet. 

That  cultured  Christian  gentleman,  Judge  R.  P. 
Dick,  formerly  one  of  our  Justices  and  now  an  hon- 
ored Federal  Judge,  and  the  late  Justice  Thomas 
Ruffin,  one  of  the  most  powerful  and  accomplished 
jurists  of  this  generation,  went  out  almost  abreast  in 
the  manly  struggle  for  fortune  and  fame.  Judges 
Barnes,  Buxton,  Meares  and  Shipp,  now  living,  and 
Ellis,  McKoy,  Person  and  Shepherd,  who  fill  hon- 
ored graves,  were  taught  in  these  halls  between  1840 
and  1850.  They  were  all  worthy  sons  of  an  honored 
mother. 

Of  the  class  of  1850,  the  late  Thomas  Settle,  twice 
chosen  a  Justice  of  our  Supreme  Court,  and  then 
appointed  by  President  Grant  District  Judge  for  the 
District  of  Florida,  won  a  well-deserved  reputation 
in  the  State  and  nation  as  a  courtly  gentleman  and 
learned  lawyer. 

The  living  sons  of  this  seat  of  learning,  who  have 
gone  forth  since  1850,  must  wait  for  mention  till  one 
of  her  Alumni,  in  response  to  the  same  sentiment, 
shall  begin  one  hundred  years  hence,  where  I  shall 
now  close  this  cursory  history. 

To  the  toast, 

The  Alumni  in  the  Ministry, 

Rev.  Thomas  E.  Skinner,  D.  I).,  responded : 


Centennial  Alumni  Banquet.  69 

This  meeting  reminds  me  of  an  old-fashioned 
revival  among  the  Baptists. 

The  brethren  seem  to  be  of  one  mind  and  to  speak 
the  same  things,  and  good  things,  of  the  dear  old 
Alma  Mater.     God  bless  her. 

The  esprit  de  corps  is  truly  animating,  and  that, 
too,  without  the  aid  (hindrance?)  of  eau  de  vie;  and 
to  this,  as  well  as  to  dear  Alma  Mater,  I  say,  esto  per- 
petua. 

Being  called  on  as  a  substitute  for  the  regular 
appointee,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Huske,  I  fear  that  I  can 
only  represent  the  husk  of  what  doubtless  would 
have  been  some  of  the  ripest  grain  shelled  off  on  this 
occasion. 

I  have  had  time  only  to  recall  a  few  of  the  distin- 
guished Alumni  of. the  ministry. 

Wm.  Hooper,  D.  D.,  LL.D.,  was  one  of  the  most 
distinguished.  He  was  a  professor  in  the  University 
of  South  Carolina,  and  also  in  this  University,  and 
one  of  the  Presidents  of  Wake  Forest  College.  He 
was  in  scholarship  rare;  in  reading  full;  in  knowl- 
edge varied  and  accurate;  in  spirit  pure  and  heav- 
enly-minded, so  much  so  that  no  one  could  resist  its 
magnetism,  nor  forget  the  aroma  of  its  abiding 
presence. 

Few  men  have  equaled  the  devotion  of  this  sanc- 
tified mind  to  education  and  religion.  He  was  truly 
a  Baptist  bishop. 


70  Centennial  Alumni  Banquet. 

And  here  we  notice  the  fecundity  of  our  dear  and 
venerated  mother  in  supplying  the  bishops  of  the 
country.  She  is  not  satisfied  unless  she  sends  forth 
distinguished  ministers,  hence  so  many  bishops. 
The  names  of  Polk,  Otey,  Hawks  (not  Francis  L., 
though  no  better  timber  out  of  which  to  make  a 
bishop  could  have  been  found),  and  Davis  and  Green, 
and  others,  are  enrolled  upon  her  catalogue. 

The  last-named  was  known  by  the  students  as 
Comfort  Green,  while  professor  here  of  rhetoric  and 
belles-lettres,  because  he  was  so  great  a  comfort  to 
the  students.  He  afterwards  became  Bishop  of  Mis- 
sissippi. 

How  well  I  remember  his  kind  and  fatherly  atten- 
tion to  me  when,  in  the  beginning  of  my  first  session, 
he  called  to  see  me,  and  how  he  lifted  my  poor  home- 
sick soul,  as  it  was  clinging  to  home  and  mother,  by 
inviting  me  to  visit  his  family  and  to  come  often, 
placing  in  my  hand  at  the  same  time  a  beautiful 
prayer-book. 

Doubtless,  had  it  not  have  been  foreordained  from 
all  eternity  that  I  should  be  a  Baptist  bishop,  why 
then  — I  might  have  been  an  Episcopal  bishop.  As 
it  is,  certainly  I  am  a  bishop. 

Episkopos  and  Presbuteros  mean  an  overseer— an 
elder.-  He  who  has  the  care  of  souls  is  an  Epis- 
kopos, and  I  am  sure  I  am  old  enough  to  be  a  Presbu- 


Centennial  Alumni  Banquet.  71 

ieros.  Now  sir  (bowing  to  Bishop  Lyman,  who 
graciously  returned  the  salutation),  you  know  that 
all  admit  that  a  pastor  is  a  bishop:  that  is,  an  over- 
seer of  a  flock ;  while  many  deny  that  any  one  man 
was  ever  made  an  ecclesiastical  overseer  —  that  is,  a 
bishop  over  other  bishops  or  pastors. 

But,  sir,  I  admit  that  you  are  a  bishop,  and  in  this 
admission  I  am  only  illustrating  the  broad-minded- 
ness of  that  progressive  people  whom  I  represent, 
the  Baptists,  though  in  some  things  they  may  seem 
to  others  to  be  a  little  close. 

Brethren,  this  is  a  scene  which  none  of  us  can 
ever  forget.  The  hundreds  of  Alumni  who  are  before 
me  enjoying  this  delightful  reunion  will  never  meet 
on  earth  again.  But  we  can,  each  of  us,  in  our 
appointed  sphere,  work  for  our  mother,  and  humbly 
beseech  the  Divine  blessing  upon  her,  that  in  the 
future  she  may  prove  even  a  greater  blessing  to 
humanity  than  she  has  been  in  the  past. 

To  the  toast, 

The  Alumni  as  Physicians, 

George  Gillett  Thomas,  M.  D.,  responded: 

At  such  a  gathering  as  this,  to  speak  of  the  ail- 
ments of  the  human  bodv,  or  of  those  whose  lives 


72  Centennial  Alumni  Banquet. 

have  been  spent  in  alleviation  of  these  bodily  ills. 
were,  measurably,  to  make  myself  take  the  part  of 
the  death's  head,  which,  at  great  feasts,  the  ancients 
gave  prominent  place  upon  their  tables  to  remind 
them  of  the  mortal  nature  of  man.  But  my  loyalty 
to  my  calling,  and  the  pride  I  have  in  its  beneficent 
works,  bid  me  congratulate  our  Alma  Mater  at  this 
gracious  moment  for  the  aid  she  has  extended  to  her 
sons  in  the  medical  profession.  For,  by  the  learning 
she  has  given  them,  many  have  gained  renown  and 
reward  in  their  journey  along  the  tedious  pathway 
of  medicine.  And  great  indeed  is  that  gift  which 
helps  man  towards  the  accomplishment  of  the  grand- 
est of  all  human  efforts — the  prevention  and  cure  of 
disease  and  the  assuaging  of  human  suffering. 

At  no  time  since  education  was  spread  abroad 
have  there  been  wanting  the  brave  men  to  rush 
forth  from  the  academies  to  do  valiant  service  in 
that  battle  which  is  ever  on  —  the  strife  between  man's 
intellect  and  benevolence  and  the  great  enemy  of  his 
kind,  disease  and  its  companion  pain.  And  to 
these  men  education  has  brought  no  uncertain 
bounties.  For  its  gentleness  has  softened  the  nature 
of  the  good  physician,  has  purified  his  life,  has 
ennobled  his  aims  and  ambitions,  and  has  made  him 
the  student  he  must  become,  who  seeks  to  unravel  the 
secrets  of  that  nature  which  is  so  manv-sided,  each 


Centennial  Alumni  Banquet.  73 

one  with  an  ever-changing  face.  To  call  off  the  roll 
of  our  illustrious  predecessors  and  contemporaries 
whose  lives  have  been  spent  as  the  physician's  should 
be,  or  to  make  memorial  of  those  men  whose  minds 
were  nourished  here  and  who  have  cast  their  lot  in 
the  absorbing  work  of  the  doctor's  world,  would  con- 
sume more  than  the  time  allotted  me.  Let  me,  how- 
ever, ask  your  indulgence,  that  I  may  very  briefly 
tell  you  of  the  life  and  death  of  an  alumnus  of  this 
University.  Dr.  James  Henry  Dickson  was  gradu- 
ated from  this  place  with  honor  af  the  early  age  of 
seventeen  years,  and  went  immediately  into  prepara- 
tion for  the  pursuit  of  his  chosen  profession.  Pos- 
sessed of  a  strong  mind  and  studious  habits,  he  as 
rapidly  and  thoroughly  acquired  the  fundamental 
truths  of  medicine  from  the  masters  under  whom 
he  sat,  as  he  had  taken  in  the  beauties  of  a  classical 
and  literary  course  from  the  teachers  who  have  made 
this  college  illustrious.  Coming  to  the  practice  of 
medicine  thus  doubly  equipped,  he  secured,  without 
delay,  the  confidence  of  the  good  people  of  Wil- 
mington, among  whom  he  located  after  a  short  stay 
in  Fayetteville.  It  was  in  the  latter  place  that  he 
did,  for  the  first  time  in  the  annals  of  surgery,  the 
operation  for  the  correction  of  the  deformity  known 
as  club-foot,  and  the  patient  is  living  to-day,  an 
attest  to  his  surgeon's  skill  and  bravery  in  under- 


74  Centennial  Alumni  Banquet. 

taking  what  the  great  masters  of  the  art  had  then 
only  hoped  for.  Since  that  time  the  same  work  has 
been  done  all  over  the  civilized  world,  and  great 
fame  and  greater  riches  have  followed  the  labors  of 
surgeons  in  this  special  line. 

But  there  was  as  complete  absence  of  ostentation 
in  Dr.  Dickson  as  there  was  immense  merit  and  all  the 
sweetness  of  character  that  a  love  for  letters  natu- 
rally engenders.  His  mind  was  never  at  rest,  and 
his  reading  covered  intelligently  all  the  ground 
that  was  open  to  him.  The  classics,  both  ancient 
and  modern,  were  choice  food  for  his  mind's  eager 
appetite,  and  its  training  gave  him,  happily,  unusual 
powers  of  retaining  with  appreciation  all  that  was 
worth  his  care.  He  gave  to  this  college  splendid 
evidence  of  his  attainments  in  his  address  before  the 
Alumni  Association,  delivered  at  the  Commencement 
season  of  1853. 

Fulfilling  the  measure  of  his  appointed  place,  his 
days  came  gently  down  to  the  dreadful  realities  of 
the  war  between  the  States,  and  in  the  midst  of  the 
horrors  of  the  time,  filled  as  they  were  with  the  daily 
story  of  suffering  and  death,  there  came  over  his 
home  a  darker  cloud,  the  epidemic  of  yellow  fever 
that  devastated  Wilmington  in  1802.  Realizing  the 
dangers  that  surrounded  him,  and  knowing  the 
enemy  he  now  had  to  face,  lie  put  aside  the  books 


Centennial  Alumni  Banquet.  75 

which  were  such  delightsome  companions  to  him,  and 
all  the  pursuits  of  a  literary  life,  and,  with  the  whole 
energy  of  his  great  mind  and  tender  heart,  went  into 
the  struggle  with  death  along  with  his  fellow-prac- 
titioners. His  constitution,  never  a  robust  one,  soon 
offered  an  easy  victim  to  the  terrible  malady  that 
he  was  seeking  daily  to  avert  from  others.  Sustained 
by  his  religion  and  the  hope  promised  of  a  peaceful 
immortality  to  the  souls  of  men  whose  lives  had  been 
spent  in  doing  the  Master's  will,  with  the  gentle 
kindness  that  is  the  marked  feature  of  his  life,  with 
the  calm  dignity  of  a  cultivated  Christian  gentle- 
man, he  laid  himself  down,  stricken  with  the  fever, 
and  after  a  short  sickness  yielded  up  his  life  to  his 
Maker. 

Beautiful  as  had  been  this  life,  honest  and  upright 
in  all  its  dealings,  serving  his  God  and  his  fellow- 
men  as  best  he  knew  how,  seeking  always  the  uplift- 
ing of  the  true,  the  beautiful  and  the  good,  and  the 
repression  of  the  dishonest,  the  vicious  and  the  low, 
his  calm  and  quiet  passing  away  was  a  typical  illus- 
tration of  the  refining  influence  alike  of  Christianity 
and  education. 

"Blessed,"  says  the  Psalmist,  "is  he  who  has  the 
God  of  Jacob  for  his  help,  and  whose  trust  is  in  the 
Lord  his  God." 

Let  this  stand  as  an  example  of  the  beneficence  of 


76  Centennial  Alumni  Banquet. 

education.  And  for  the  rest,  suffice  it  to  say,  the 
sons  of  this  University,  in  every  department  of  medi- 
cine, have  borne  willing  and  ample  testimony  to  the 
graces  of  learning  given  them  here.  Partaking, 
too  generally  it  may  be,  of  the  modesty  that  is 
so  characteristic  of  the  good  people  of  this  Com- 
monwealth, those  of  our  Alumni  who  have  made 
worthy  records  as  physicians  and  surgeons,  are 
remembered  and  known  chiefly  by  grateful  patients 
and  admiring  fellow-practitioners.  But,  along  with 
the  other  professions,  and  very  often,  I  am  proud  to 
believe,  in  advance  of  them,  medicine  has  ever  kept 
the  steady  step  of  progress;  and  in  North  Carolina, 
thanks  to  wise  legislation  in  the  laws  regulating  the 
practice  of  medicine,  and  the  watchful  care  of  the 
Board  of  Medical  Examiners,  we  stand  to-day  with- 
out superiors  in  all  this  broad  land  in  everything 
that  goes  to  make  the  trustworthy  doctor. 

From  these  halls  went  forth  many  of  the  men 
whose  influence  has  shaped  the  course  of  education 
for  the  physicians  coming  to  care  for  the  lives  of  our 
people;  and  from  here,  too,  have  gone  scores  of 
others  who,  adding  to  the  knowledge  already  obtained 
the  technical  learning  of  their  profession,  have  freely 
dispensed  the  benefits  of  their  art.  Fearless  of  dan- 
ger, because  they  were  prompted  by  the  noble  instincts 
of  their  calling,  they  have  stood  calmly  at  their  posts 
in  times  of  wasting  pestilence;  kind  and  gentle  in 


Centennial  Alumni  Banquet.  77 

the  hours  of  sorrow,  they  have  been  the  cherished 
friends  of  stricken  households,  carrying  aid  and 
comfort  wherever  there  was  suffering,  forever  bring- 
ing hope  in  the  face  of  despair;  as  good  citizens  of 
the  great  republic  of  medicine,  they  have  known  no 
king  save  death,  and  deemed  no  one  unworthy  of 
their  aid  who  belonged  to  the  human  family.  Cer- 
tainly, to  such  men,  education  is  a  grace  of  price- 
less value.  To  none  of  her  sons  do  the  memories 
of  this  gentle  mother  come  with  more  tender  thank- 
fulness for  the  bestowal  of  her  bounties  than  to  those 
who  are  the  true  physicians. 

The  tenth  toast  was: 

The  Alumni   Who   have   Promoted  Education  in  Private   or 
in  Public  Schools. 

Responses : 

In  Private  Schools :  Maj.  Robert  Bingham,  A.  M., 

and  J.  H.  Horner,  A.  M. 
In  Public  Schools:  Edwin  A.  Alderman,  Esq. 

Major  Bingham  said: 

We  have  heard  with  unfeigned  pleasure  how  the 
Alumni  of  the  University  have  distinguished  them- 
selves, and  honored  their  Alma  Mater,  in  many  lines 
of   successful  activity.     An  alumnus  of   this  Uni- 


78  Centennial  Alumni  Banquet. 

versity  has  sat  in  the  chair  of  the  Presidency  of  the 
United  States.  Our  Alumni  have  been  Cabinet 
officers.  The}r  have  been  Senators  from  many  States. 
They  have  been  Governors  of  many  States.  They 
have  occupied  the  highest  judicial  positions  in  many 
States.  They  have  been  the  most  distinguished  law- 
yers, the  most  distinguished  orators,  the  most  dis- 
tinguished preachers  in  many  States.  And  when 
war  came,  the  sons  of  the  University  were  the  first 
to  draw  their  sword  and  the  last  to  sheath  it. 
Indeed,  the  University  seems  to  have  endued  her 
sons  with  some  peculiar  power,  and  to  have  given 
them  some  special  inspiration,  which  enabled  them 
to  seize  and  to  hold  the  leadership  of  political  and 
forensic  thought  and  action.  But  this  very  inspira- 
tion, being  essentially  political  in  its  nature  and 
results,  disinclined  them  to  the  quiet  and  thought- 
ful life  of  the  scholar  and  to  the  laborious  and 
unremunerative  life  of  the  teacher.  The  history  of 
the  Alumni  who  have  taught  is,  in  most  instances, 
short  and  pathetic.  It  is  that  of  a  noble  army  of 
martyrs,  who  have  done  much  for  others,  but  little 
for  themselves.  They  have  been  comparatively 
unknown  men.  They  worked  hard,  they  lived  hard, 
they  died  poor;  and  while  their  light  was  clear 
and  steady,  and  a  blessing  to  the  few  on  whom  it 
shone,  the  life  of  these  faithful  men  was  too  obscure. 


Centennial  Alumni  Banquet.  79 

their  work  too  hard  and  their  pay  too  small,  to 
attract  into  teaching  boys  in  the  private  schools, 
those  whose  whole  training  tended  chiefly  to  make 
them  leaders  of  men  in  the  field  and  on  the  forum ; 
and  so  I  can  count  on  the  fingers  of  my  two  hands 
all  the  Alumni  of  the  University,  who,  as  teachers 
of  private  schools,  have  achieved  a  reputation  which, 
by  reaching  into  other  States,  can  be  considered  in 
any  sense  national.  Among  these  modesty  forbids 
me  to  do  more  than  mention  the  names  of  my  own 
father  and  brother,  and  truth  and  justice  forbid  me 
to  do  less.  But  the  alumnus  is  with  us  to-day,  who 
is  the  Xestor  of  the  private  school  work  in  the  State. 
He  is  a  brilliant  man  in  intellect,  he  is  a  kingly 
man  in  person,  lie  is  the  most  striking  and  effective 
teacher  that  I  have  ever  seen  in  a  class-room.  It  is  lie, 
of  all  others,  who  should  respond  to  this  toast,  and 
you  will  not  do  justice  to  the  man,  to  the  private 
schools  or  to  yourselves,  if  you  do  not  on  this  aus- 
picious day  hear  words  of  wisdom  from  James  H. 
Horner  of  Oxford. 

Following  this  handsome  and  well-merited  com- 
pliment, and  in  response  to  long  and  earnest  calls 
from  the  Alumni,  Mr.  Horner  said : 

I  am  much  embarrassed  by  the  high  compliment 
of  my  friend.     With  due  preparation,  I  should  be 


SO  Centennial  Alumni  Banquet. 

unequal  to  the  task  of  making  a  suitable  response  to 
the  toast.  I  am  not  in  the  habit  of  making  extem- 
pore speeches,  as  is  my  friend,  and  I  am  taken  too 
much  by  surprise. 

I  can  only  respond  as  a  former  pupil,  the  son  of  a 
distinguished  gentleman  now  present,  once  responded 
to  my  associate  in  the  school  at  Oxford,  the  late  Mr. 
R.  H.  Graves. 

The  young  gentleman,  for  some  failure  in  his 
school  duties,  had  been  ordered  by  Mr.  Graves,  as  a 
penalty,  to  come  to  his  room  on  the  following  Sat- 
urday to  make  up  his  failure.  The  young  gentle- 
man did  not  obey  the  order.  On  the  Sunday  morn- 
ing after,  he  was  passing  along  the  street  in  front  of 
Mr.  Graves'  room.  Mr.  Graves  happened  to  be  at 
the  gate  on  the  street  and  accosted  the  young  gentle- 
man, by  saying  to  him  that  he  did  not  attend  at 
his  room  on  Saturday,  as.  he  had  been  required  to 
do.  "No,"  said  the  young  gentleman,  bowing 
politely,  ''that,  sir,  was  not  in  my  line  of  business," 
and  walked  on.  He  was,  of  course,  notified  on  Mon- 
day morning  that,  for  this  conduct,  he  was  excluded 
from  the  school.  The  young  gentleman  lias  since. 
T  am  glad  to  say,  become  quite  distinguished  as  a 
scholar,  and  has  made  for  himself  a  high  reputa- 
tion in  his  field  of  labor,  and  is  now  heartily  sorry 
for  his  boyish  misconduct, 


Centennial  Alumni  Banquet.  81 

In  like  manner  I  can  only  respond,  in  the  words 
of  the  young  gentleman,  that  this  extempore  speak- 
ing "  is  not  in  my  line  of  business." 

I  will  say,  however,  that  whatever  success  I  may 
have  had  as  an  educator  is  due  entirely  to  the  excel- 
lent training  I  received  under  the  tuition  of  my 
friend's  distinguished  father. 

Mr.  E.  A.  Alderman  responded  to  the  toast, 

The  Alumni  who  have  Promoted  Education  in  Public  Schools. 

We  have  honored,  or  shall  honor,  on  this  memorial 
occasion,  those  who,  here  nurtured  and  made  strong, 
counted  it  a  glory  and  a  gladness  to  give  up  their 
lives  for  their  country;  those  who  have  illustrated 
civic  virtue  in  high  places,  or  have  held,  with  poised 
hand,  the  scales  of  justice;  those  who  have  alleviated 
human  suffering,  and  from  the  pulpit,  the  bar,  the 
press  and  the  counting-house  contributed  to  the  sum 
of  human  happiness,  and  given  impetus  to  the 
beauty  and  movement  of  our  civilization.  All 
honor  has  been  accorded  to  the  great  Virginian,. 
Thomas  Jefferson,  in  State  and  nation,  because,  in 
the  concrete  pressure  of  a  struggle  for  independence, 
he  had  the  sagacity  and  foresight  to  embody  in  a 
merely  revolutionary  document  an  universal  and 
sentimental  truth,  applicable  to  all  men  and  to  all 
6 


82  Centennial  Alumni  Banquet. 

ages,  "All  men  are  created  free  and  equal,"  there  to 
remain  embalmed  forever  a  rebuke  and  a  stumbling- 
block  to  tyranny  and  oppression;  and  because  he 
declared  that  the  earliest  and  latest  concern  of  his 
life  was  the  education  of  the  people. 

I  would  have  equal  honor  paid  here  to-day,  and 
paid  forever,  to  the  sons  of  this  State  and  this  insti- 
tution, who,  at  a  time  when  much  was  heard  of  gov- 
erning classes  and  classes  generally;  when  at  public 
•expense  the  sons  of  nobles  made  Latin  verses  at  Eton 
and  Winchester,  and  charity  boys  ran  bare-headed 
and  blue-coated  through  the  streets  of  London, 
grasped,  took  to  heart  and  taught  these  ideas:  the 
people  are  made  to  rule  and  not  to  be  ruled.  They 
must  be  made  fit  for  this  sovereignty  through  train- 
ing. The  State,  whose  sore  need  it  is,  must  give  this 
training,  and  not  leave  it  to  passing  whim  or  to 
charity.  The  public  school  is,  therefore,  an  inspira- 
tion from  God  to  enable  a  people  dedicated  to  such 
principles  to  maintain  them  in  the  building  up  of 
their  civilization. 

The  moving  principle  in  the  heart  of  Archibald 
Murphey  —  the  first  and  foremost  of  them  all  —  and 
of  Joseph  Caldwell  and  Calvin  Wiley,  in  their  strug- 
gles for  popular  education,  was,  it  pleases  me  to 
believe,  not  philanthropy,  but  statesmanship;  not 
the  doing  of  a  duty,  by  the  poor  nor  conferring,  with 


Centennial  Alumni  Banquet.  S3 

ostentatious  charity,  the  burning  badge  of  pauperism, 

but  the  granting  of  a  right  as  sacred  as  the  right  to 

be  free  and  to  stand,  unhindered,  under  the  arch  of 

the  sky. 

These  men  were  civic  heroes.     Their  deeds  "  smell 

sweet  and  blossom  in  the  dust."     The  fruit  of  their 

thought  and  care  will  yet,  under  God,  beautify  and 

renovate  our    civilization.      Let  the  schools  of  the 
i 

State  perpetuate  their  names.  It  is  fitting  that  this 
idea  should  have  been  pushed,  and  this  stone  set  in 
its  place,  by  the  sons  of  this  institution,  which  is 
itself  the  head  of  the  public  school  system,  and  the 
highest  rung  of  the  ladder  which  the  builders 
intended  should  stretch  from  lowliness  and  ignorance 
to  learning  and  power.  I  pray  God  that  its  younger 
sons  may  have  strength  to  carry  on  the  work,  and  be 
spared  to  see  the  cap-stone  put  on  with  shoutings,  and 
every  child  in  North  Carolina,  rich  or  poor,  lowly 
born  or  gentle  bred,  be  enabled  to  emancipate  itself 
from  the  great,  black  empire  of  necessity  and  night, 
and  to  make  out  of  itself,  for  the  State's  sake  and  its 
own,  everything  that  can  be  made. 


84  Centennial  Alumni  Banquet. 

The'  eleventh  toast  was : 

The  Alumni  who  in  Private  Life  have  Advanced  the  Prosperity 
of  the  State  in  Manufactures  and  Internal  Improvements. 

Responses : 

In  Manufactures,  by  Julian  S.  Carr,  Esq. 
In  Internal  Improvements,  by  J.  Turner  More- 
head,  Esq. 

Mr.  Carr  said: 

Horace  it  was,  I  think,  if  I  misquote  him  not,  who 
wrote,  "  Dulce  et  decorum,  est  pro  patria  mori"  Now, 
gentlemen,  in  my  college  days  my  relations  with 
this  old  paterfamilias  of  the  Romans  whom  I  pre- 
sume to  quote,  were,  I  must  confess,  not  of  a  charac- 
ter sufficiently  familiar  to  justify  my  parading  him 
before  you  on  an  occasion  such  as  this;  and  again, 
it  is  embarrassing,  for  since  I  ceased  to  cultivate  the 
limited  acquaintance  I  had  with  the  noblest  of  the 
old  Roman  poets,  under  that  peerless  teacher,  pol- 
ished scholar  and  eminent  Christian  gentleman,  Rev. 
Dr.  Forctyce  M.  Hubbard,  whose  immaculate  spirit 
has  lately  quit  this  tenement  of  clay  and  gone  home 
to  glory,  but  whose  precious  memory  will  ever  live 
in  the  sacred  recollections  of  every  old  Chapel  Hillian 
as  sweet  as  the  love  of  an  angel  and  as  green  as  the 


Centennial  Alumni  Banquet.  85 

myrtle  leaf — since,  I  say,  the  day  I  closed  my  An- 
thon's  Latin  Lexicon  and  left  these  delightful  pre- 
cincts, I  have  been  reliably  informed  that  a  most 
decided  spirit  of  innovation  in  pronunciation  has  so 
changed  even  the  old  landmarks,  that  most  noble 
Horace  himself  would  in  all  probability  have  to 
brush  up  to  quote  Latin  correctly,  or  perhaps  even 
be  sent  before  Col.  Walter  Steele's  Committee  of 
Visitation  in  order  to  ascertain  if  he  was  a  veritable 
Roman. 

Be  that  as  it  may,  while  there  is  much  truth  in 
my  Latin,  there  is  a  quotation  in  good  old  Anglo- 
Saxon  that  contains  more  truth,  to-wit :  It  is  sweeter 
to  live  for  one's  country.  In  living  an  honorable 
life  and  faithfully  filling  our  station,  there  springs 
in  the  bosom  of  the  majority  of  mankind  a  pardon- 
able feeling  of  ambition.  This  one,  by  nature  and 
the  cultivation  of  his  gifts,  finds  glory,  it  may  be,  in 
the  law ;  and  I  have  sometimes  felt,  as  I  have  seen 
the  multitude  hang  upon  the  words  of  the  eloquent 
advocate  at  the  bar,  "what  was  more  to  be  desired?" 
Or  perhaps,  it  ma}r  be,  the  medical  profession  offers 
an  opportunity  unexcelled  for  making  a  name  that 
will  live  like  the  stars  and  give  unalloyed  happiness; 
for  what  is  better  calculated  to  bring  sweet  sleep  to 
the  eyes  and  slumber  to  the  eyelids  and  cradle  the 
conscience  upon  a  couch  of  roses,  than  to  know  that 


86  Centennial  Alumni  Banquet. 

by  your  skill  you  have  been  able  to  meet  the  grim 
monster  death  upon  the  field  of  his  own  choosing, 
and  snatch,  as  it  were,  his  victim  from  his  very  jaws 
and  give  him  back  to  life?  Or  it  may  be  the  plan- 
ter, as  he  views  his  cattle  upon  a  thousand  hills  and 
his  teeming  fields  yielding  to  the  sturdy  strokes  of 
the  reaper.  Or  the  successful  merchant  or  banker, 
who  counts  his  successful  and  profitable  investments 
by  the  thousands.  And  then  there  is  the  man  of 
science  or  of  letters,  who  bridles  the  very  elements  of 
the  heavens  and  causes  them  to  do  his  bidding,  or 
walking  among  the  stars  calls  Orion  and  Neptune 
by  name,  and  who  is  as  familiar  with  the  stranger 
who,  with  long  fiery  train,  spans  the  dome  of  the 
heavens,  visiting  this  mundane  sphere  sometimes  in 
a  cycle  of  centuries,  as  we  are  with  our  old  class- 
mates. These,  each  in  their  sphere,  by  honorable, 
successful  lives,  make  life  worth  living.  But  with  all 
my  admiration  for  these  honorable  callings,  there 
remains  yet  one  at  whose  shrine  I  yield  my  devotion, 
and  to  the  success  of  which,  with  all  the  ability  born, 
and  cultivated  at  this  dear  old  University,  I  have 
devoted  my  life. 

Truly  he  is  a  benefactor  who  causes  two  blades  of 
grass  to  grow  wdiere  onh7  one  grew  before,  and  cer- 
tainly this  is  the  province  of  the  manufacturer. 
Take,  if  you  please,  the  roster  of  our  dear  old  Alma 


Centennial  Alumni  Banquet.  87 

Mater,  and  see  how  much  the  State  is  due  to  her 
for  the  successful  management  of  many  of  the  differ- 
ent manufacturing  enterprises  within  her  borders. 
Beginning  with  my  venerable  friend,  Col.  Walter 
Steele,  whose  busy  spindles  at  his  beautiful  factory 
upon  the  waters  of  the  grand  old  Pee  Dee,  stand 
a  lasting  monument  to  his  enterprise  and  industry 
and  an  honor  to  his  State.  Then  count  the  More- 
heads,  the  Holts,  the  Frieses,  the  Williamsons,  and  a 
score  of  others  that  time  fails  me  to  mention,  and 
then,  if  you  can,  compute  the  influence  of  an  insti- 
tution that  has  not  only  graduated  a  President, 
United  States  Senators  and  Governors,  but  has  given 
us  successful  manufacturers  by  the  score. 

Upon  this  the  Centennial  Anniversary  of  this  our 
dear  old  Alma  Mater,  let  us  rejoice  that  she  may,  like 
the  mother  of  the  Gracchi,  when  asked  for  her  jewels, 
point  with  joyous  pride  to  the  long  list  of  her  hon- 
orable sons;  and  I  am  greatly  pleased  that  so  many 
whose  names  are  to  be  found  upon  the  roll  of  hon- 
orable mention,  are  known  as  successful  manufac- 
turers. 

My  friends,  it  has  been  just  a  quarter  of  century 
since  I,  a  beardless  youth,  quit  the  shades  of  these 
grand  old  oaks  to  join  the  forces  of  General  Lee. 
Less  than  two-thirds  of  that  time  has  been  spent  at 
a  point  that  most  of  you  knew  in  your  college  days 


88  Centennial  Alumni  Banquet. 

as  scarcely  deserving  the  name  of  a  railroad  turn- 
out. Listen  what  manufacturing  has  done.  With 
each  rising  sun  the  hum  of  the  machinery  in  that 
quondam  railroad  hamlet  is  heard  around  the  world, 
and  cablegrams  from  Japan,  the  Straits  of  Malacca 
and  Australia  flash  to  that  point  in  as  much  a  mat- 
ter-of-fact way  as  you  would  send  a  telegram  from 
here  to  Raleigh;  and  representatives  from  that  point, 
grip-sack  in  hand,  visit  every  civilized  and  uncivil- 
ized country  upon  the  globe,  in  the  interest  of  the 
manufacturing  industries  of  that  community;  and 
gentlemen  in  San  Francisco  or  London  close  their 
ledgers  and  lock  their  vaults  and  visit  this  point,  all 
brought  hither  by  the  reputation  of  her  manufactur- 
ing enterprises.  North  Carolina,  I  am  glad  to  say  t<» 
you,  is  fast  growing  into  prominence  on  account  of 
her  manufacturing  industries,  and  I  know  you  will 
join  me  in  the  wish  that  all  our  manufactories  may 
prove  successful,  and  especially  those  at  the  head  of 
the  management  of  which  you  can  point  to  an  old 
University  boy. 

In  response  to  the  toast, 

The  Alumni  who  have  Advanced  the  Prosperity  of  the  State 
in  Internal  Improvements, 

Mr.  J.  Turner  Morehead  said : 

The  Alumni  who  left  the  University  in.  its  early 
years,    found    France   and    England    the  foremost 


Centennial  Alumni  Banquet.  89 

nations  of  the  earth;  Washington,  Bonaparte  and 
Wellington  the  heroes  of  mankind,  the  accepted 
exemplars  of  men.  With  these  before  them,  did  the 
Alumni  who  turned  their  energies  to  internal 
improvements  choose  wisely?  Washington  was  an 
engineer,  a  projector,  promoter  and  advocate  of  inter- 
nal improvements.  He  lives  in  the  hearts  of  his 
countrymen  and  his  works  do  follow  him. 

Bonaparte,  often  exhibiting  abilities  second  only 
to  the  omnipotent,  often  accomplishing  results  that 
were  akin  to  miracles,  and  wielding  a  power  unpar- 
alleled, did,  during  that  leisure  enforced  by  failure, 
say,  "  France  has  failed,  England  has  succeeded ;  my 
mistake  has  been  in  not  fostering  ships,  colonies  and 
commerce." 

The  Duke  of  Wellington  was  present  on  Septem- 
ber loth,  1830,  the  day  of  the  formal  opening  of  the 
Manchester  &  Liverpool  Railroad.  But  the  half  a  mil- 
lion people  there  assembled  hailed  George  Stephenson 
as  the  conquering  hero,  and  the  authorities  of  Man- 
chester hurried  Wellington  from  their  city  to  prevent 
his  carriage  from  being  mobbed,  and  this  only  fifteen 
years  after  Waterloo.  These  facts  answer  for  us  that 
the  Alumni  chose  the  better  part  who  followed  the 
irrepressible  prophecy  of  their  genius,  and  who  gave 
rein  to  an  adventurous  imagination,  the  poetry  of  a 
business  life. 


90  Centennial  Alumni  Banquet. 

Facilities  of  intercourse  and  exchange,  and  educa- 
tion, mental  and  moral,  are  the  corner-stones  of  civili- 
zation and  all  true  progress.  Then  it  is  fitting  that 
North  Carolina's  internal  improvement  hosts  should 
be  headed  by  a  former  President  of  this  University, 
Dr.  Joseph  Caldwell.  As  the  engineers,  sooner  or 
later,  drift  back  to  the  Buffalo  trails,  so  are  we  con- 
tinually returning  to  and  adopting  the  suggestions 
made  by  the  unerring  foresight  of  this  great  man. 

Lack  of  time  compels  me  to  omit  details,  and 
refer  by  name  only  to  a  few  Alumni.  Mr.  Cameron 
has  referred  to  Dr.  Caldwell  as  the  sower  and  Gov- 
ernor Morehead  as  the  reaper.  Then  came  William 
A.  Graham,  Romulus  Saunders.  Ashe,  Calvin  Graves, 
Dr.  Hawkins.  Paul  Cameron,  Branch,  Shepperd,  Nor- 
wood, W.  W,  Avery,  Ed.  Stanley,  William  John- 
ston, Smith,  Speight,  H.  M.  Shorter,  Walter  L. 
Steele,  who  voted  for  the  North  Carolina  Railroad 
charter  when  the  road  came  not  within  ninety  miles  of 
him.  Was  their  work  necessary?  Think  of  the  dark 
days  of  1840  to  '48,  when  there  was  bickering,  distrust 
and  dissent,  and  there  was  a  Pamlico  section,  a  Roan- 
oke section,  a  Cape  Fear,  Piedmont,  mountain  and 
trans-mountain  section,  without  cohesive  sympathy 
for  each  other.-  As  the  iron- worker  straps  in  iron  bands 
different  pieces  and  welds  them  into  a  homogeneous 
ingot  of  improved  quality,  so    these  isolated   com- 


Centennial  Alumni  Banquet.  91 

munities  have  disappeared,  and  are  merged  into  one 
brotherhood,  rilled  with  State  pride,  prosperous  now, 
confident  of  the  future,  self-reliant,  appreciative  and 
grateful. 

Much  has  been  accomplished .  When  the  rays  of  the 
evening  sun  take  their  last  gambol  on  the  waves  of 
the  Atlantic,  and  the  fisherman  takes  from  this  ever- 
replenished  store-house  a  good  fish,  ere  the  morrow's 
sun  has  bid  good-night  to  the  fir,  balsam  and  lau- 
rel, five  hundred  miles  away  from  and  five  thou- 
sand feet  above  the  home  of  this  denizen  of  the 
deep,  the  mountaineer  will,  at  his  evening  meal,  have 
thanked  his  Lord  for  this  fish,  and  for  the  lives  and 
labors  of  the  Alumni  that  have  made  this  possible, 
and  have  made  the  mountaineer  and  sea-faring  man 
neighbors,  friends  and  help-mates. 

"  Truths  would  you  tear'h  or  save  a  sinking  land, 
All  fear,  none  aid,  few  understand." 

The  undertakings  of  the  Alumni  aiding  internal 
improvements  were  no  holiday  jobs,  no  taking  a  tide 
at  its  flood  and  being  borne  to  success.  Theirs  were 
no  fortuitous  ventures,  such  as  come 

''In  the'lap  of  the  new  moon's  boat, 
The  sunset  stars  above, 
With  ne'er  a  sail  but  the  sail  of  hope. 
And  ne'er  an  oar  but  love.'" 


92  Centennial  Alumni  Banquet. 

They  exhibited  all  the  qualities  of  bold,  sturdy, 
adroit  manhood.  Let  us  hold  in  grateful  remem- 
brance those  who  are  dead;  honor,  help  and  God 
speed  to  those  still  in  harness. 

The  twelfth  toast  was: 
The  Dialectic  and  Philanthropic  Societies. 

Responses  were  made  by  J.  M.  Leach,  Jr.  and 
James  Thomas,  Esq.     Mr.  Leach  said : 

The  love  a  man  has  for  his  Alma  Mater  is  as  pure 
as  that  he  cherishes  for  her  to  whom  he  owes  his  life. 
I  say  man,  for  I  fancy  this  love  is,  in  a  sense,  pecu- 
liar to  man ;  for  while  a  woman  loves,  in  a  general 
way,  the  school  from  which  she  graduates,  I  imagine 
she  does  not  feel  the  same  interest  in  it  that  a  man 
does.  At  least  she  seldom  visits  her  school  after 
years  have  flown;  after  prattlers  nestle  at  her  knee, 
and  new  loves  and  deeper  ones  have  weaned  her 
from  that  girlish  love  for  the  college  of  her  gradua- 
tion. Not  so  with  our  sex.  There  are  times  when 
nothing  can  detain  a  man.  He  leaves  home,  mother, 
wife,  business,  everything,  and  takes  a  heart-holiday 
with  only  memory  for  a  companion. 

On  such  a  day,  though  fifty  years  have  flown  since 
his  graduation,  he  will  wander  back  to  the  old  col- 


Centennial  Alumni  Banquet.  93 

lege  and  stroll  again  in  old  paths;  or  with  moist 
eyes  sit  in  Society  Hall  or  recitation-room  and  call 
to  himself  in  low  tones  the  roll  of  his  dead  class- 
mates; and  like  a  chime  of  bells  long  forgotten  and 
heard  in  a  dream,  does  he  hear  the  well-remembered 
voices,  hushed  for  many  a  year.  And  as  associations 
crowd  upon  his  fancy,  he  smiles  through  his  tears  as 
he  remembers  the  fond  old  day-dreams  of  his  youth- 
ful ambition,  so  few  of  which  have  been  realized. 

Oh,  the  old  man's  love  of  his  school  is  a  real  part 
of  him;  and  if  on  some  Commencement  occasion 
you  miss  him,  and,  failing  to  guess  the  cause,  make 
inquiry,  you  will  find  that  he  has  only  severed  his 
connection  with  the  Alumni  here  to  step  over  the 
line  which  divides  life  from  the  Unknown,  and  has 
joined  the  larger  Alumni  Association. 

Almost  every  alumnus  before  me  feels  a  love  for 
the  University  as  warm  and  as  lasting  as  that  I  have 
described;  and  our  thoughts  linger  most  fondly  over 
the  name  of  our  society  whenever  we  hear  or  see  it. 
Our  society!  where  we  mingled  in  genial  compan- 
ionship with  our  friends,  or  struggled  with  our  rivals 
for  the  mastery. 

Dialectic  Society !  Those  words  bring  fresh  before 
me  all  the  associations  of  four  of  the  most  happy 
and  useful  years  of  my  life.  I  contracted  a  debt  to 
my  society  during  those  years  which  I  can  never 


94  Centennial  Alumni  Banquet. 

hope  to  pay.  She  was  ever  most  partial  to  me. 
and  my  deep  gratitude  will  alwa}7s  be  hers.  When 
I  entered  her  hall  as  a  member,  she  became  to  me  a 
mental  Patmos.  A  new  world  opened  to  me.  Not 
simply  a  change,  but  a  new  mental  birth.  For  the 
first  time  the  wonderful  possibilities  and  dignity 
of  life  dawned  upon  me.  As  a  theatre  is  a  new 
world  to  each  man  when  first  seen  by  him,  so  in  the 
debates  upon  vital  questions  and  historical  subjects 
(though  I  had  read  of  many  of  them  before),  and  in 
the  reading  incident  and  necessary  to  their  proper 
preparation,  I  caught  the  first  glimpse  of  the  won- 
derful world  of  Dialectics.  I  have  since  learned 
that  one  of  the  marked  characteristics  of  this  cen- 
tury is  to  test  all  truth  in  the  furnace  and  crucible 
of  debate. 

In  the  Dialectic  Society  I  first  saw  the  real  meaning 
and  apprehended  the  true  philosophy  of  life,  found 
and  epitomized  in  her  motto,  '"Love  of  Virtue  and 
Science,"  which  is  at  once  the  key  to  all  real  progress 
and  worthy  living.  Coming  into  existence  in  the 
beginning  of  a  century  of  transition  and  fermenta- 
tion, she  was  happily  named  Dialectic:  and  her 
motto  was  not  only  a  pledge  of  her  success,  but  the 
principle  it  embodies  has  been  the  cause  of  that  suc- 
cess. 

In  one  of  his  beautiful  allegories,  Aiken  makes 


Centennial  Alumni  Banquet.  95 

Virtue  say:  "Science  may  raise  thee  to  eminence; 
I  alone  can  guide  thee  to  felicity." 

But  in  addition  to  the  fame  attendant  upon  the 
labors  of  distinguished  scientists,  we  are  all  familiar 
with  the  thousand  contributions  of  science  to  man's 
daily  felicity  and  welfare  in  this  century  of  the 
greatest  comfort  and  invention.  But  if  one  possess 
the  greatest  genius,  and  add  thereto  the  wealth  and 
power  of  greatest  learning,  he  still  needs  virtue, 
integrity  —  lofty  and  determined  —  to  give  beauty 
and  moral  force  to  his  character  and  life.  Integrity ! 
the  crowning  virtue;  or,  rather,  the  controlling  prin- 
ciple which  makes  all  virtues  possible.  Were  all  the 
young  men  of  this  generation  "  smit  with  love  "  of  the 
principles  that  shine  in  the  motto  which  my  society 
has  always  kept  before  the  eyes  of  her  members, 
what  a  glorious  future  might  be  predicted  for  North 
Carolina ! 

I  beg  leave  here  to  remind  the  Alumni  that  some 
of  the  brightest  and  most  honored  members  of  the 
"Di."  Society  were  those  whose  earl}r  preparation  for 
the  college  wTas  obtained  in  the  efficient  common 
schools  of  our  State.  And  here  permit  me  to 
acknowledge  and  emphasize  the  great  debt  our  lite- 
rary societies,  colleges  and  University  owe  the 
uncommon  common  schools  and  graded  schools  of 
our  State.     It  is  incalculable;  and  though  pedagogy 


96  Centennial  Alumni  Banquet. 

has  become  a  profession,  and  our  teachers  have  been 
accused  of  "taking  the  State"  (when  they  are  justly 
entitled  to  "the  earth"),  I,  for  one,  do  not  believe 
they  are  yet  accorded  the  high  position  to  which  they 
are  entitled  —  a  position  above  that  of  the  lawyer  or 
physician,  since  they  mould  the  future ;  and  I  recall 
no  other  profession  which  is  not  confined,  in  the 
scope  of  its  work,  to  the  present,  save  that  of  the 
legislator.  Let  me  assure  the  teachers  who  hear  me 
that  theirs  is  the  noblest  calling.  And  in  this  con- 
nection, pardon  me  for  diverging  to  say,  that  the 
wonderful  knowledge  we  possess  of  the  principles  of 
universal  evolution,  and  the  recent  progress  made  in 
the  sciences  of  astronomy,  geology,  psychology,  phi- 
lology and  sociology  are  compelling  us  to  re-write 
history.  No  less  radical  changes  are  obtaining  in 
the  moral  world,  and  in  consequence  our  ideals  are 
fast  outgrowing  those  of  former  times.  In  the  future 
the  hero  will  be  not  he  who  excels  in  physical  beauty 
or  prowess,  nor  he  who  attains  loftiest  mental 
heights,  nor  yet  lie  who  governs  wisely  or  leads 
armies  to  victory,  but  he  who  is  the  wisest  worker 
and  most  useful  citizen  will  rank  his  fellows. 

For  a  century  to  come  the  brightest  American 
galaxy  will  be  Washington,  Lincoln  and  Grant;  but 
when  these  "  'gin  to  pale  their  ineffectual  fires,"  the 
eyes  of  a  posterity  wiser  than  we  will  be  turned  to  a 


Centennial  Alumni  Banquet.  97 

new  quarter  of  the  heavens,  whence  will  stream  the 
effulgent  and  steady  light  of  those  planetary  names 
identified  with  the  best  influence  of  the  century — the 
common  school  educational  movement.  Then  it  will  be: 
seen  that  in  all  our  heavens  there  is  no  brighter 
name  than  that  of  Horace  Mann ;  and  among  the 
bright  particular  stars  that  cluster  around  him,  bor- 
rowing not  a  ray  of  his  glory,  will  be  Dr.  McCorkle, 
founder  of  education  in  North  Carolina;  Dr.  Braxton 
Craven  and  Dr.  Calvin  H.  Wiley  —  names  conspicu- 
ous, illustrious,  resplendent,  immortal!  To-day  the 
Dialectic  Society  greets  you  with  the  salutation: 
Welcome  back  to  your  Alma  Mater,  and  God  speed 
you  and  her  in  your  joint  and  noble  work  of  ele- 
vating and  uplifting! 

Sirs,  my  heart  warms  and  glows  within  me  to-day 
at  the  pleasure  of  this  reunion,  and  I  hope  to  sit 
down  with  all  of  you  at  another  "groaning  table"  a 
year  from  to-day. 

It  is  said  that  one  of  the  finest  fountains  in  the 
world  is  Trevi,  Rome.  There  is  a  legend  that  if  a  « 
traveller  go  to  the  fountain  at  night  and  take  seven 
sips  of  water  (anything  stronger  dispels  the  charm) 
from  a  glass  and  then  break  the  glass,  he  will  return 
to  Rome  again  before  he  dies.  If  drinking  at  the 
old  well  yonder  would  secure  me  a  seat  at  the 
Alumni  table  a  vear  hence,  I  would  drink  the  water ; 
7 


98  Centennial  Alumni  Banquet. 

and  break  the  glass,  though  it  were  the  finest  product 
of  the  art  in  which  the  Bohemian  excels. 

It  was  said  of  Louis  le  Debonnaire,  son  of  Charle- 
magne, that  he  expressed  the  desire  to  die  where  he 
could  "  hear  the  waves  of  the  Rhine."  Were  Heaven 
pleased  to  grant  my  idle  whim,  I  would  wish,  when 
the  fading  pageant  of  life  is  over  for  me,  to  fall 
asleep  in  Chapel  Hill,  under  the  majestic  oaks  that 
•once  shaded  Polk.  Caldwell,  Swain,  Davie.  Moore, 
Murphev.  Battle,  Maugum.  Badger,  Morehead,  Gra- 
ham. Pettigrew,  Ransom  and  Vance,  and  in  sight  of 
the  Hall  of  the  Dialectic  Society,  where  my  thoughts 
often  fondly  linger. 

Mr. Thomas  said  in  response  to  the  toast. 

The  Philanthropic  Society  : 

Day  before  yesterday  1  was  asked  to  respond  to 
the  toast.  "The  Philanthropic  Society."  I  could  not 
refuse. 

A  friend  of  the  distinguished  statesman  Daniel 
Webster,  knowing  his  keen  relish  for  the  products  of 
the  sea,  sent  him  a  large  salmon. 

The  day  on  which  the  favorite  fish  was  served, 
Mr.  Webster  invited  some  of  his  friends  to  dine  with 
him,  and  in  the  course  of  the  conversation  at  the 
table  he  said,  in  an  unusual  good  humor:  "I  do  not 


Centennial  Alumni  Banquet.  99 

know  why  you  Southerners  don't  like  me,  for  I  am 
as  fond  of  good  eating  and  drinking  as  you  are." 

His  compliment  would  have  been  complete  if  he 
had  added  how  much  they  are  actuated  by  a  gener- 
ous hospitality,  and  how  much  they  delight  to  have 
others  to  partake  of  what  they  enjoy. 

In  one  of  the  loveliest  spots  in  this  land  of  ours, 
on  the  banks  of  the  Potomac  river,  there  stands  an 
unpretentious  but  attractive  building.  It  was  once 
the  home  of  Washington,  the  centennial  of  whose 
inauguration  has  just  attracted  the  attention  of  the 
civilized  world,  and  is  coeval  with  that  of  our  own 
beloved  Alma  Mater. 

I  observed  in  that  house,  and  it  is  a  significant 
tact,  but  one  characteristic  of  Southern  life  —  that 
the  largest  and  best  room  was  a  banquet  hall,  in 
which  that  typical  Virginian  held  social  intercourse 
with  friend  after  friend,  and  where  prominent  men 
of  our  own  country,  and  those  from  across  the  water, 
were  entertained  in  a  princely  manner.  Aye,  more 
than  princely,  because  the  entertainment  was  uncon- 
ventional and  sincere. 

To-day,  as  Alumni  of  the  University  of  North 
Carolina,  we  are  gathered  in  this  banquet  hall  at  a 
common  table,  and  I  doubt  not  that  many  of  the 
thoughts  of  each  of  us  are  thoughts  in  common. 

Prominent  among  these  thoughts  are  those  which 


100  Centennial  Alumni  Banquet. 

are  recalled  by  the  memory  of  the  pleasant  hours 
spent  in  one  of  the  societies,  whose  names  are  house- 
hold words,  especially  all  over  the  Old  North  State. 

To  me,  next  to  home,  around  which  ought  to  clus- 
ter the  best  affections  of  the  human  heart  and  the 
noblest  impulses  of  the  human  soul,  one  of  the  few 
places  worthy  of  the  highest  respect  is  the  Philan- 
thropic Society,  where  were  created  aspirations  and 
hopes  which  are  incentives  to  action  and  the  inspira- 
tion of  daily  life. 

During  this  season  of  festivity  and  reunion,  there 
is  a  charm  about  the  Philanthropic  Society,  a  society 
not  confined  to  yonder  four  walls,  but  which  lives 
in  its  members  wherever  they  are,  whose  name 
implies  what  its  members  should  be  —  lovers  of  their 
fellow-men;  and  whose  motto,  "Virtue,  Liberty  and 
Science,"  has  been  exemplified  in  the  lives  of  hun- 
dreds who  have  gone  forth  from  its  hall. 

To  call  the  names  of  some  of  the  long  line  of  its 
illustrious  men  might  seem  invidious  distinction. 
They  are  scattered  all  over  the  eastern  section  of  this 
broad  land ;  and,  ever  and  anon,  their  thoughts  and 
their  ways  lead  to  the  sacred  shrine  of  their  boyhood 
days. 

I  know  that  when  speakers  at  a  Commencement 
begin  to  talk  of  classic  halls  and  stately  oaks,  there  is 
oftentimes  awakened  in  college  boys  feelings  of  mer- 
riment. 


Centennial  Alumni  Banquet.  101 

I  am  conscious  that  many  people  seem  to  be  unaf- 
fected by  local  associations,  by  which  others  are  not 
only  touched  but  deeply  moved. 

A  party  of  young  ladies  and  gentlemen  traveling 
in  Europe  stopped  on  the  field  of  Waterloo.  They 
were  talking  and  laughing  the  whole  time  about  some- 
thing foreign  to  the  place  and  the  occasion.  And  yet 
they  stood  upon  a  field  in  which  all  Europe  was  once 
intensely  interested,  and  where  was  fought,  by  two 
of  the  greatest  generals  of  modern  times,  a  battle 
whose  stake  was  universal  empire. 

On  the  other  hand,  how  differently  did  the  asso- 
ciations of  place  affect  the  most  popular  English 
poet  of  his  day  —  that  poet  whose  warm  and  gener- 
ous nature  prompted  him  to  give  his  only  bed  to  a 
poor  woman  who,  begging,  knocked  at  his  college 
door.  AVhen,  after  years  of  reckless  dissipation,  he 
returned  impoverished  to  the  scenes  of  his  child- 
hood, he  gave  to  the  world  "  The  Deserted  Village." 

80,  let  the  influence  of  place  take  hold  of  this 
society. 

May  the  interest  of  its  members  in  it  increase  as 
the  collegiate  years  come  and  go. 

May  its  future  be  a  hundred-fold  more  prosperous 
than  its  past,  and  may  the  time  be  not  far  off  when 
she  and  her  sister  society  shall  be  crowded  with 
intelligent  and  virtuous  members,  all  determined  to 


]02  Centennial  Alumni  Banquet. 

make  the  University  what    it  should  be.  the  pride 
and  hope  of  our  State. 

The  thirteenth  toast  was: 
Our  Sister  I  diversities  and  Colleges. 

Responses  were  made  by  Col.  Charles  S.  Venable, 
LL.l).,  of  the  University  of  Virginia,  and  Rev. 
Charles  E.  Taylor,  D.  D.,  of   Wake  Forest  College. 

( 'olonel  Venable  said  : 

I  am  glad  to  be  here  and  proud  to  respond  to  the 
toast  "Our  Sister  Universities"  on  this  auspicious 
occasion,  and  I  thank  you  for  your  cordial  greeting. 

It  has  been  the  fashion  of  the  orators  in  the  late 
centennial  celebrations  of  the  adoption  of  the  Consti- 
tution of  the  United  States  to  dwell  largely  on  the 
material  prosperity  and  growth  of  the  nation. 

While  the  development  of  the  material  resources 
of  our  country  is  an  essential  factor  of  the  advance 
of  our  people  in  civilization  and  refinement,  I  prefer 
to  speak  here  of  the  progress  of  our  Southern  States 
in  the  provision  made  for  the  education  of  their  sons 
since  I860.  Those  were  dark  days  when,  in  the  year 
immediately  following,  armed  forces  held  the  halls 
of  this  noble  old  University  of  North  Carolina  and 
of  other  sister  State  Universities. 


Centennial  Alumni  Banquet.  103 

True,  some  were  unmolested,  and  to  these  came  in 
considerable  numbers  superb  young  soldiers,  fresh 
from  the  field — whose  intellects  were  as  bright  as 
the  sabres  they  had  flashed  in  air  in  the  battle's 
front,  and  whose  aim  as  direct  as  when  they  had 
brought  their  rifles  to  bear  upon  the  foe.  It  was 
indeed  a  privilege  to  guide  and  teach  those  noble 
fellows,  some  of  whom  I  have  the  pleasure  of  greet- 
ing here  to-day.  But,  when  we  looked  over  the 
whole  Southern  land,  as  I  have  said,  it  was  a  dark, 
dark  day  for  the  higher  education  of  her  sons. 

Yet  I  would  not  dwell  on  those  mighty  sorrows  of 
the  past,  even  did  time  allow.  Let  us  prefer  to  leap, 
in  vision,  across  the  quarter  of  a  century  and  sur- 
vey the  work  of  our  State  and  denominational  uni- 
versities and  colleges  in  the  higher  education,  and  of 
our  academies  and  schools  —  all  pushing  grandly 
forward,  ever  advancing,  increasing  in  power  and 
usefulness. 

Could  our  grand  leader,  to  whom  the  higher  edu- 
cation of  the  youth  of  our  land  was  the  hope  of  the 
country,  have  foreseen  this  picture  of  to-day,  even  in 
the  agony  of  the  hour  of  the  surrender  at  Appomat- 
tox he  would  have  exclaimed,  with  the  prophet  bard,. 
"Visions  of  glory!  spare  my  aching  sight!" 

The  reverend  gentleman  who  sits  beside  you,  Mr. 
President,   has    spoken   of  this  anniversary   as   "a 


104  Centennial  Alumni  Banquet. 

revival " :  let  it  prove  a  real  revival,  of  which  the 
sons  of  North  Carolina  may  catch  the  enthusiasm, 
and  go  forth  to  labor  earnestly  in  the  cause  of  this 
old  University,  wisely  founded  by  the  fathers  in  the 
interest  of  the  people. 

You  might  as  well  attempt  to  place  a  candle  in 
every  man's  cottage  without  the  creative  energy 
imparted  by  the  sun  in  the  heavens,  as  to  undertake 
to  establish  an  effective  system  of  public  secondary 
and  primary  instruction  without  a  well-equipped 
and  well-sustained  State  University  at  its  head,  to 
furnish  the  essential  force  of  educated  intellect. 

The  poet  Coleridge,  in  writing  to  a  friend,  said  to 
him:  ''There  are  three  suns  spoken  of  in  the  Scrip- 
tures: The  sun  of  Hezekiah.  which  went  back:  the 
sun  of  Joshua,  which  stood  still,  and  the  sun  of 
David  —  and  wishes  that  the  sun  of  his  prosperity 
may  be  this  last  sun." 

This  1  bring  as  a  greetine;  from  the  sister  univer- 

c>  o  C? 

sities  to  the  noble  University  of  North  Carolina. 
May  the  sun  of  her  progress  and  power  be  this  sun 
of  the  psalmist,  which  is  as  a  bridegroom  coming 
forth  from  his  chamber,  rejoicing  like  a  strong  man, 
to  run  a  race. 


Centennial  Alumni  Banquet.  105 

The  fourteenth  toast  was: 

To    George    Peabody   and   Others,    who,    Loving   the    South, 
have  Given  of  their  Means  to  Educate  her   Children. 

Response  was  made  by  J.  L.  M.  Curry,  LL.D. 

The  fifteenth  toast  was: 

Our  Guests. 

Responses  were  made  by  Henry  E.  Shepherd, 
LL.D.,  of  Charleston  College,  and  Crawford  H.  Toy, 
LL.D.,  of  Harvard  University. 

Professor  Shepherd  spoke  in  place  of  President 
Gilman,  of  Johns  Hopkins  University,  who  was 
detained  by  the  floods. 

He  began  by  deploring  the  unavoidable  absence 
of  Dr.  Gilman,  whose  visit  to  the  University  had 
been  expected  on  all  sides  with  genuine  pleasure. 
He  scarcely  felt  himself  a  "guest"  at  Chapel  Hill,  a 
place  consecrated  by  so  many  memories  and  hal- 
lowed by  so  many  traditions.  The  Alma  Mater  of 
his  father  and  his  uncle,  to  say  nothing  of  a  long 
line  of  friends  and  kinsfolk,  many  of  whom  sleep 
in  unrecorded  Virginia  graves;  many  of  whom 
still  subsist  in  the  vigor  of  manhood,  full  of  civic 
ardor,  apt  for  heroic  emprise,  capable  of  lofty  achieve- 
ment,    Though  an  alumnus  of  another  University, 


106  Centennial  Alumni  Banquet. 

no  one  more  heartily  sympathized  with  the  Uni- 
versity of  North  Carolina  in  all  her  struggles,  no  one 
more  cordially  rejoiced  in  her  expansions,  in  her 
increasing  scholarly  range,  as,  like  the  poet's  ideal 
freedom, 

"  She  broadens  slowly  clown 
From  precedent  to  precedent."' 

The  speaker  expressed  the  hope  that  amid  the  fes- 
tivities of  this  auspicious  occasion,  amid  the  tributes 
paid  to  material  greatness,  as  embodied  in  wealth 
and  commerce  in  all  their  complex  forms,  the  Cen- 
tennial should  not  pass  without  at  least  some  recog- 
nition of  the  high  and  noble  function  performed  by 
universities  in  fostering  and  developing  the  senti- 
ment of  culture,  the  conception  of  pure  scholarship 
lifted  above  all  thought  of  worldly  aggrandizement 
into  that  serene  atmosphere,  that  Arcadian  home, 
which  is  the  abode  and  the  sanctuary  of  the  ideal 
student.  He  discussed  at  some  length  the  character 
of  the  true  scholar,  as  distinguished  from  the  man 
of  information  or  mere  acquisition,  the  man  who 
possesses  his  knowledge  and  is  not  possessed  by  it. 
The  speaker  protested  against  the  influence  of  that 
materialistic  sentiment  which  threatens  to  efface  the 
very  idea  of  pure  culture,  by  rendering  it  subservi- 
ent to  merely  utilitarian  ends,     ft  was  the  Baconian 


Centennial  Alumni  Banquet.  107 

philosophy  carried  beyond  all  rational  limits,  for,  as 
Whewell  pointed  out  long  ago,  Bacon  failed  to 
appreciate  adequately  the  ideal  element  in  our 
knowledge.  President  Shepherd  declared  that  a 
genuine  scholar  was  a  phenomenon  and  a  prodigy, 
and  that  the  scholarly  instinct,  the  scholarly  dis- 
cernment was  like  the  creative  and  prophetic  genius 
of  the  poet,  or  the  analytical  faculty  of  the  man  of 
science.  The  true  scholar  is  among  the  noblest  bene- 
factors of  the  race,  he  is  a  spiritual  power,  a  concrete 
protest  against  that  incoming  wave  of  materialism, 
which  threatens  to  subordinate,  if  not  to  subvert,  all 
the  holier  and  purer  forces  of  our  civilization.  The 
inspiration  communicated  by  the  presence  of  great 
scholars  was  earnestly  dwelt  upon,  and  conspicu- 
ous illustrations  w  ere  given,  notably  that  of  the 
younger  Scaliger  and  his  career  at  the  University  of 
Leyden.  It  is  the  peculiar  glory  of  universities,  the 
speaker  insisted,  to  nurture  the  scholarly  idea,  to 
foster  and  stimulate  scholarly  aspirations,  to  mature 
and  perfect  scholarly  character.  In  the  attainment 
of  this  great  desire,  American  colleges  and  univer- 
sities have  in  large  measure  failed  and  come  short. 
The  speaker  concluded  by  appealing  to  the  students 
and  Alumni  to  use  all  diligence  in  cherishing  and 
developing  that  sentiment  of  scholarly  yearning  and 
aspiring,  which  is  the  perfected  glory  and  the  serene 


108  Centennial  Alumni  Banquet. 

.splendor  of  universities  in  all  ages  and   under  all 
variations  of  administrative  order  or  external  form. 

Professor  Toy  said,  in  response  to  the  toast, 

Our  Guests  : 

1  am  hap])y.  on  this  pleasant  occasion,  to  be  the 
bearer  of  the  greetings  and  congratulations  of  the 
Faculty  of  Harvard  College  to  the  University  of 
North  Carolina.  We  are  bound  to  you  by  the  ties 
of  a  common  interest  and  a  common  hope  and  effort. 
The  spirit  of  sympathy  and  co-operation  which  exists 
among  the  colleges  of  our  country  is  one  of  the  most 
encouraging  signs  for  our  future.  United  in  the  one 
great  aim  of  fostering  mental  culture,-of  laying  the 
foundations  of  a  stronger  and  purer  national  and 
individual  life,  we  gain,  from  our  association  with 
one  another,  freshening  and  broadening  of  ideas  and 
stimulation  to  work.  May  the  time  soon  come  when 
there  shall  be  a  closer  brotherhood  of  American  col- 
leges, a  freer  and  more  frequent  interchange  of 
thought  and  a  larger  and  more  effective  co-operation. 

With  a  record  like  that  of  the  University  of  North 
Carolina,  the  present  occasion  cannot  fail  to  be  one 
of  deep  significance  and  happy  omen.  The  life  of 
the  University  began  with  that  of  the  State  whose 
fortunes  it  has  faithfully  shared,  and  we  may  conn- 


Centennial  Alumni  Banquet.  109 

dently  hope  that  the  increasing  prosperity  of  the  State 
will  bring  fresh  vigor  and  more  commanding  influ- 
ence to  its  highest  school.  The  main  direction  of  the 
educated  thought  of  the  State  has  been  in  the  hands 
of  its  University.  I  shall  not  attempt  to  call  the 
roll  of  its  eminent  presidents,  instructors  and  trus- 
tees, and  of  its  distinguished  graduates  who  have 
occupied  positions  of  honor  and  trust  at  home  and 
abroad.  It  is  rather  the  steady  pressure  which  the 
University  has  exerted  on  the  educated  masses,  the 
bone  and  sinew  of  the  State,  that  I  think  of.  Sev- 
enty years  ago  it  was  said  of  North  Carolina  that, 
in  zeal  for  education,  it  was  not  outdone  by  any 
State. in  the  Union.  This  is  the  sentiment  that  has 
leavened  the  population  of  the  State,  and  has  found 
its  highest  expression  in  the  University.  The  fathers 
of  the  Revolution,  says  President  Battle,  knew  that 
their  children  would  not  be  capable  of  freedom 
without  education.  It  is  the  indispensable  duty  of 
every  Legislature  —  so  runs  the  preamble  to  the  act 
for  the  establishment  of  the  University  a  hundred 
years  ago  —  to  consult  the  happiness  of  a  rising  gen- 
eration, and  endeavor  to  fit  them  for  an  honorable 
discharge  of  the  social  duties  of  life,  by  paying  the 
strictest  attention  to  their  education. 

No  broader  scheme  for  a  university  could  be  stated. 
The  ultimate  aim  of  education  on  the  social  side 


11<>  Centennial  Alumni  Banquet. 

is  to  teach  men  to  live  aright:  on  the  reflective  side 
it  is  the  discovery  of  truth.  To  these  ends  all  the 
energy  of  the  University  must  be  bent,  and  to  these 
other  considerations  must  be  held  subordinate.  IAb- 
ertas  docendi,  libertas  discendi —  perfect  freedom  of 
thought,  unfettered,  unbiased  by  whatsoever  sur- 
roundings, is  the  one  absolutely  essential  condition 
of  progress.  Happily,  it  is  one  which  is  universally 
recognized  in  our  country,  one  to  which  the  people 
of  North  Carolina,  by  their  experiences  of  a  century 
ago.  in  their  State  Constitution,  in  the  organic  law  of 
all  their  schools  and  colleges,  have  given  no  doubtful 
assent. 

The  question  whether  a  university  education  is 
needed  has  been  practically  answered  by  our  people 
in  the  affirmative.  Whatever  may  be  the  ebbs  and 
flows  of  sentiment,  there  is  always  a  return  to  the 
position  that  nothing  can  atone  for  the  absence  of  the 
material  for  broad  culture  which  a  university  alone 
can  supply.  The  existence  of  such  an  institution 
is  assured  by  the  deepest  conviction  of  the  people. 
It  remains  for  the  friends  of  university  education 
to  apply  themselves  to  the  task  of  giving  it  the 
best  form.  Nor  need  we  fear  the  results  of  such 
an  attempt.  If  it  be  true  that  our  methods  are 
now  somewhat  chaotic,  this  is  an  incident  of  our 
national  youthfulness:   we  can  learn  only  by  experi- 


Centennial  Alumni  Banquet.  Ill 

ence.  But  we  have  no  small  advantage  in  the  exist- 
ence of  a  number  of  universities  in  the  different 
States,  each  of  which  is  endeavoring  to  adapt  itself 
to  its  public.  From  these  varied  experiences  will 
arise  permanent  principles  and  methods;  each  uni- 
versity will  learn  from  the  others.  We  cannot  merely 
copy  the  organizations  of  the  European  schools, 
though  we  may  hold  ourselves  ready  to  adopt  from 
them  whatever  shall  appear  to  be  useful  for  our  [tur- 
poses. 

A  university  must  be  the  creator  of  its  own 
resources.  It  must  shape  a  public  opinion  which 
shall  -supply  the  means  of  endowing  instruction,  and 
shall  offer  those  rewards  of  honors  and  emoluments 
which  shall  induce  young  men  to  devote  themselves 
to  thorough  literary,  scientific  and  philosopical 
studies.  The  outlook  in  this  regard  is  hopeful. 
Every  graduating  class  is  a  new  leavening  power. 
With  the  increasing  facilities  and  achievements  of 
the  University  comes  a  new  pride  among  her  Alumni 
and  among  the  citizens  of  the  State,  an  increasing 
desire  to  link  their  names  with  hers  by  gifts  which 
shall  confer  the  highest  benefits  on  the  youth  of  the 
State  for  untold  generations. 

May  the  hope  which  the  University  of  North  Car- 
olina reposes  in  her  sons  be  amply  and  speedily  ful- 
filled! 


112  Centennial  Alumni  Banquet. 

In  conclusion,  may  I  be  permitted  to  read  the  fol- 
lowing telegram,  which  I  have  just  received  from  the 
President  of  Harvard  University: 

"  Cambridge,  Mass.,  June  5,  1889. 

"  Harvard  University  congratulates  the  University 
of  North  Carolina  on  a  centenary  of  usefulness  and 
honor,  and  wishes  it  ever-increasing  prosperity. 

(Signed)  "  Charles  W.  Eliot.*' 


EXERCISES  OF  THE  CLASS  OF  1870 

AT    ITS    DECENNIAL    REUNION. 


The  class  of  1879  began  its  career  with  the  revival 
of  the  University  in  1875,  and  was,  therefore,  the 
first  to  graduate  under  the  new  regime,  after  a  four 
years'  course  of  study.  It  was  a  part  of  the  plan  of 
the  Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  to  grant  special 
places  on  the  programme  for  special  exercises  to 
such  classes  as  might  make  application  therefor;  and; 
notice  of  this  was  given  to  each  class.  Application  was 
made  by  the  classes  of  1879  and  1  868,  who,  accord- 
ingly, held  special  exercises  in  Memorial  Hall,  as  a 
part  of  the  Centennial  Reunion.  It  seems  proper 
to  give  these  special  exercises  the  same  prominence 
in  print  that  they  obtained  on  the  occasion  of  the 
celebration. 

The  members  of  the  class  of  1879,  having  assem- 
bled on  the  rostrum,  were  called  to  order  by  the 
President,  W.  J.  Peele,  Esq.  The  Secretary  called 
the  roll,  and  the  following  answered  to  their  names: :;: 


*  Besides  these,  there  were  present,  but  not  on  the  stage,  the  follow- 
ing members  of  the  class  who  were  not  graduates:  Messrs.  John  C 
Angier,  Frank  R.  Borden  and  D.  C.  Stan back. 

8 


114  Exercises  of  the  Class  of  i8jy. 

Dr.  K.  P.  Battle,  Jr.,  Dr.  R.  B.  Henderson,  Dr.  J.  M. 
Manning,  Mr.  J.  8.  Manning,  Mr.  W.  J.  Peele,  Rev. 
Robert  Strange.  Messrs.  Francis  I).  Winston  and 
Robert  AY.  Winston  and  Dr.  Isaac  M.  Taylor. 

Mr.  Francis  D.  Winston,  the  class  historian,  then 
presented  to  President  Battle,  in  behalf  of  the  class, 
a  handsome  pamphlet  containing  the  class  history. 

Mr.  Winston  said: 

This  book  contains  a  history  of  the  class  of  1879. 
It  is  the  wish  of  the  class  that  this  copy  be  placed 
in  the  library  of  the  institution.  That  wish,  I  am 
sure,  is  not  prompted  by  the  fact  that  it  contains  a 
picture  of  each  member  of  the  class,  nor  by  the 
belief  that  the  achievements  of  the  class,  as  a  whole, 
merit  such  distinction  :  but  it  proceeds  from  the  desire 
to  have  others  follow  our  example,  so  that  the  history 
of  this  institution,  and  of  its  sons,  may  be  thus  pre- 
served and  transmitted  to  posterity. 

This  occasion,  sir,  renews  right  spirits  within  us. 
We  will  carry  home  a  warmer  zeal  for  the  University 
and  a  brighter  hope  for  its  future.  It  is  a  satisfac- 
tion to  feel  that  the  years  since  our  graduation  have 
been  spent  by  the  class  of  1<S70  in  such  a  manner  as 
to  reflect  some  credit  on  their  Alma  Mater. 

Our  paths  in  life  are  wide  apart,  but  they  all  lead 
from  this  hallowed  place,  where  memory  and  atf'ec- 


Exercises  of  the  Class  of  i8"jcj.  115 

tion  cling  with  a  fervor  and  a  joy  tbat  will  endure 
as  long  as  life  itself. 

President  Battle  responded  briefly,  accepting  the 
pamphlet. 

Mr.  W.  J.  Peele,  the  class  president,  now  arose  and 
said : 

Ten  years  and  about  ten  days  ago,  the  class  of 
'79  held  a  meeting  and  adopted  a  resolution  to  have 
a  reunion  at  this  Commencement, and  award  a  cup  to 
the  first-born  son  in  the  class.  At  a  meeting,  held  in 
Raleigh  last  December,  it  was  ascertained  and  deter- 
mined tbat  James  Horner  Winston,  son  of  Robert  W. 
Winston,  of  Oxford,  X.  C,  had  the  requisite  priority  of 
birth,  and  was  entitled  to  the  cup  under  the  resolu- 
tion. 

It  becomes  my  duty,  therefore,  as  president  of  the 
class  of  '79,  and  in  the  name  of  the  class,  to  present 
him  this  cup.  I  always  knew,  in  a  certain  sort  of 
a  way,  that  he  was  going  to  get  it.  Taking  prizes 
runs  very  much  in  families.  His  father  before  him 
took  a  prize  over  the  other  members,  and  it  is  not 
surprising  that  this  boy  takes  one  over  the  sons 
of  the  other  members.  It  is  very  much  a  mat- 
ter of  habit  and  heredity,  anyhow.  I  had  a  friend 
once  who  got  into  the  habit  of  marrying  rich,  and 


116  Exercises  of  the  Class  of  fS'79. 

it  wasn't  much  trouble  to  him.  After  he  had  mar- 
ried one  or  two  rich  girls,  he  never  seemed  to  have 
any  difficulty. 

It  has  always  been  my  fortune  to  give  prizes  —  I 
never  got  one ;  but  I  remember  to  have  read  some- 
where that  "  it  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive," 
and  I  live  in  the  hope  that  this  applies  to  prizes  as 
well  as  to  advice. 

A  lady  friend  of  the  class  has  rather  insinuatingly 
raised  the  question,  why  the  prize  was  not  offered  for 
the  first-born  girl.  I  told  her  that,  in  looking  over 
the  census  just  prior  to  the  meeting  in  '79,  the  class 
saw  that  there  were  more  girls  than  boys  in  North  Car- 
olina, and  that  we  wished  to  restore  the  equilibrium. 
This  did  not  seem  to  suit  her  exactly,  so  I  changed' 
front  a  little  and  told  her  I  had  always  regarded  it 
as  a  condescension  for  a  girl  to  come  into  this  wicked 
old  world,  anyhow.  And  T  will  say  now,  that  two 
additional  reasons  the  class  had  for  not  giving  the 
cup  to  the  oldest  girl,  were  that  we  didn't  want  to 
encourage  our  girls  to  be  forward,  and  priority  of 
age  does  not  give  any  precedence  to  girls;  they  don't 
feel  much  complimented  at  being  born  first.  I  wish 
the  same  theories  obtained  among  men.  I  would 
run  against  some  gray-headed  old  sinner  for  office. 

Bill  Arp  says  that  there  is  advice  enough  lying 


Exercises  of  the  Class  of  iSyp.  117 

around  loose  in  this  world  to  run  about  three  the  same 
size  of  it,  and  have  some  left  over  for  a  future  life. 

But,  in  the  name  of  the  class  of  79,  I  want  to  say 
this  much  to  the  boy's  father :  Teach  this  boy  to  hate 
shams ;  they  are  walking  the  highways  of  this  life 
in  ghastly  affectation  of  greatness.  Teach  him  to  be 
content  with  nothing  less  than  genuine  success.  As 
I  go  further  along  the  pathway  of  life,  I  find  it 
strewn  thicker  and  thicker  with  the  wrecks  of  men 
who  are  almost  successful — just  a  little  more  faith, 
a  little  more  courage,  and  a  little  more  character,  and 
all  would  have  been  well.  Teach  him  to  be  in  love 
with  some  great  truth,  tenderly  to  woo  it,  bravely  to 
marry  it,  for  better  or  for  worse,  and  then  faithfully 
to  guard  it  as  long  life  shall  last.  Teach  him  that, 
though  we  are  poor  here  in  North  Carolina,  we  need 
men  a  thousand  times  more  than  we  need  money, 
and  that  we  have  the  material  here  to  make  them  out 
of.  Teach  him  to  be  nothing  in  this  life  but  true,  to 
fear  nothing  but  God,  and  to  love  nothing  but  virtue, 
truth  and  God. 

Mr.  Robert  W.  Winston  said,  in  reply: 

When  the  class  of  1879  offered  a  prize  cup  to  the 
first  boy  born  to  any  of  her  members,  it  was  doubtless 
thought  that  I  was  not  likely  to  be  of  the  number 


118  Exercises  of  the  Class  of  i8jg. 

from  whom  the  choice  would  be  made.  For  I  was 
young  of  age.  the  youngest  of  the  class,  offish  with  the 
fair  sex  and  not  plethoric  of  purse — the  lack  of  the 
two  first  qualifications,  at  least,  if  not  the  last,  being 
considered  fatal  to  any  man  seeking  a  prize  through 
the  lottery  of  matrimony. 

But  the  race.  Mr.  President,  is  not  always  to  the 
swift  nor  the  battle  to  the  strong:  and  so.  when  we 
come  to-day  to  reckon  up  and  to  canvass  the  returns. 
with  a  view  to  seeking  who  is  in  the  lead.no  contest 
is  reported  from  a  single  precinct.  Your  speaker 
has  had  a  walk  over  the  track ;  no  Paris  is  called  into 
requisition  to  dispose  of  the  Golden  Apple,  aye.  not 
even  an  electoral  commission,  with  its  fine  eye  for 
business,  could  find  aught  of  tiaw  in  the  decision 
to-day.  scan  it  never  so  critically. 

But  I  opine.  Mr.  President,  that  you  and  Drs. 
Manning,  Henderson  and  Battle,  W.  L.  Hill  and 
Springs,  the  recreant  Benedicts  of  the  class,  will  not 
envy  me  my  honors,  but  will  permit  me.  blushing, 
to  bear  them  as  they  fall  thick  upon  me,  hugging 
to  yourself,  not  a  wife,  but  the  delusive  words  of 
Lord  Bacon:  "He  that  hath  wife  and  children  hath 
given  hostages  to  fortune." 

But,  lest  envy,  that  green-eyed  monster  "which 
doth  mock  the  meat  it  feeds  on,"  possess  the  soul  of 
the  married  men  of  the  class,  exclaiming,  "  I  would 


Exercises  of  the  Class  of  iSfy.  119 

have  won  the  cup,  had  we  started  even  in  the  race," 
I  here  now  offer  the  following  resolution :  Resolved, 
that  whichever  member  of  the  class  of  1879  shall 
have  his  quiver  fullest,  shall  not  only  be  exempt 
from  taxation  forever,  but  have  a  golden  cup. 

Mr.  President,  in  re-kindling  the  fires  of  that 
friendship,  which  all  agree  is  purest  and  most  lasting, 
laid  in  college  association;  in  stopping  the  wheels  of 
business  and  re-visiting  this  hallowed  spot,  where 
impetuous  and  generous  youth  for  four  years 
champed  the  bit,  eager  for  the  fray,  we  not  only  per- 
form an  important  duty,  but  we  cultivate  that  part 
of  our  nature  —  often  sadly  neglected  amidst  the  bus- 
tling practicality,  not  to  say  selfishness,  of  the  day  — 
love  of  home,  love  of  the  law,  love  of  truth.  These 
things  may  not  swell  our  bank  account,  but  they  will 
give  us,  individually,  spotless  reputation,  the  purest 
treasure  mortal  times  afford,  and  collectively  will 
make  us  men  worthy  to  constitute  even  such  a  state 
as  Sir  William  Jones  graphically  describes. 

In  thanking  my  class-mates  for  this  beautiful  eup. 
I  do  not  deem  it  amiss  to  give  expression  to  my  idea 
of  the  controlling  and  underlying  characteristic  of 
our  class.     It  is  this:  self-reliance  within  the  law. 

Doctor  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  says  that,  if  you 
will  give  him  a  man's  controlling  thought,  he  will 
guide  him  as  he  would  a  ship. 


120  Exercises  of  the  Class  of  iSjg. 

The  mainspring  of  our  class  will  be  found  to  be 
respect  for  constituted  authority  and  reliance  on  self. 
And  I  trust  that  it  will  be  attributable  to  pardonable 
pride  that  I  refer  to  the  fact  that  this  august  Faculty, 
on  more  than  one  occasion,  yielded  a  point  and 
acceded  to  what  our  class  considered  its  constitu- 
tional right,  And  yet,  1  would  not  have  it  under- 
stood that  we  were  rigidly  righteous,  for  we  fully 
appreciated  the  fact  that  — 

"The  cleanest  corn  that  ere  was  (light 
May  have  some  pyles  of  caftin. 
So  ne"er  a  fellow-creature  slight, 
For  random  fits  o'  daffin." 

All  honor  to  the  self-reliant  man,  for,  says  Emer- 
son, all  history  resolves  itself  very  easily  into  the 
biographies  of  a  few  stout  and  earnest  persons. 

My  class-mates,  we  have  passed  one  decade  in  the 
pursuits  of  life.  May  the  future  have  in  store  for 
each  of  us  the  fullest  fruition  of  our  hopes;  but  let  us 
ever  bear  with  us  the  consciousness  that 

"All  Nature  is  but  Art  unknown  to  thee: 
All  chance,  direction  which  thou  canst  not  see: 
XW  discord,  harmony  not  understood: 
All  partial  evil,  universal  good: 
And  spite  of  pride,  in  erring  reason's  spite, 
One  truth  is  clear — Whatever  is.  is  Eight." 


Exercises  of  the  Class  of  i&jg.  121 

But,  Mr.  President,  the  thought  occurs  to  me  ttiat, 
perhaps,  the  acceptance  of  this  cup  should  be  by  the 
recipient  of  it,  so  I  now  ask  permission  to  file  him  as 
an  exhibit  in  this  cause,  being  the  best  evidence  the 
nature  of  the  case  will  admit  of,  and  in  the  reply  of 
Priscilla,  the  Puritan  maiden,  to  John  Aldeu,  "Why 
don't  you  speak  for  yourself,  John?" 

Here,  amid  a  storm  of  applause,  Mr.  Winston  led 
his  little  four-year-old  boy  to  the  front,  who  said: 

"  If  ever  I  have  an  eldest  son. 
And  he's  a  little  boy  like  me, 
And  doesn't  know  a  single  thing — 
Not  even  A,  B,  C— 
I  hope  he'll  not  get  a  t-ilver  cup, 
For  then,  perhaps,  I'd  pull  him  up 
Before  this  crowd  to  blush  and  bow, 
And  make  a  speech,  when  he  doesn't  know  how." 

After  passing  a  resolution  to  meet  again  at  the 
Commencement  in  June,  1899,  the  class  adjourned, 
with  a  benediction  by  the  Rev.  Robert  Strange. 


EXERCISES   OF   THE   CLASS   OF    1868 

AT    THE    TWENTY-FIRST    ANNIVERSARY    OF    ITS 
GRADUATION.       . 


The  class  of  1868  was  the  last  to  graduate  under 
the  presidency  of  David  L.  Swain.  The  birth  of  the 
class  dates  from  the  death  of  the  "  Old  University." 
A  special  place  on  the  programme  of  the  Centennial 
Reunion  was  awarded  the  class  at  its  request. 

The  following  members  were  present,  seated  upon 
the  rostrum :  Colonel  William  H.  S.  Burgywn,  A.  W. 
Graham  Esq.,  Hon  I.  R.  Strayhorn,  Charles  E.  Wat- 
son, Esq.,  and  Dr.  George  Gillett  Thomas. 

In  behalf  of  the  class,  Colonel  William  H.  S.  Bur- 
gwyn  spoke  as  follows: 

•  As  I  rise  on  behalf  of  the  class  of  1868,  and  think 
of  the  kind  partiality  of  my  class-mates,  who  have 
selected  me  to  speak  for  them  on  this  memorable 
occasion,  passing  by  others  more  worthy  of  this 
honor  —  those  who  have  done  their  State  distin- 
guished service,  and  won  for  themselves  enviable 
reputations,  I  ask  leave  to  return  them  my  grateful 
thanks. 


124  Exercises  of  the  Class  of  1868. 

What  significance  is  there  in  an  anniversary?  Is 
one  hundred  years  a  long  time  in  a  nation's  history? 
A  few  weeks  since,  an  old  man.  full  of  years  and  of 
honor,  died  in  the  city  of  Boston.  Just  before  his 
death  he  wrote  to  a  friend  this  memorable  statement: 
'•  Deacon  Spooner  died  in  1818,  aged  04.  I  saw  him 
and  talked  with  him.  He  talked  with  Elder  Faunce, 
who  was  one  of  the  Pilgrims,  and.  it  is  said,  the  one 
who  pointed  out  the  rock."  The  lives  of  these  three 
men  span  the  whole  American  history  from  the  Pil- 
grim Fathers  to  the  present.  Brief  as  is  the  time,  in 
the  wonderful  achievements  of  science,  the  develop- 
ment of  material  resources,  the  victories  of  the 
church,  the  enrichment,  the  uplifting,  the  ennobling 
of  humanity,  that  these  three  lives  saw.  comprehend 
the  best  of  the  world's  history  since  the  time  of 
Christ. 

Will  the  story  of  the  next  one  hundred  years  be 
as  marvelous?  Who  of  us  here  will  deserve  to  be 
spoken  of  one  hundred  years  hence ? 

It  is  not  for  me  to  invade  the  province  of  the  his- 
torian, and  dwell  upon  the  greatness  of  the  act  of 
those  men  who.  in  the  very  throes  of  a  revolution, 
incorporated  in  the  fundamental  law  of  their  gov- 
ernment this  command:  ''All  useful  learning  shall 
be  duly  encouraged  and  promoted  in  one  or  more 
universities." — Clause  XLI,   Constitution  of  1776. 


Exercises  of  the  Class  of  1868.  125 

It  was  a  masterly  stroke  of  statesmanship,  the 
inspiration  of  a  patriot,  and  evinced  a  sublime  con- 
fidence in  the  future  of  their  country. 

As  we  are  told  by  science  that  an  impulse  com- 
municated by  a  sound  to  the  air  around  us  is  felt 
through  that  medium  to  the  utmost  limit  of  our 
atmosphere ;  as  a  pebble  dropped  in  the  ocean  sets 
up  a  movement  among  the  particles  of  water,  that, 
ever  widening,  continues  until  the  opposite  shores 
are  reached ;  so,  we  may  believe,  a  great  thought,  sig- 
naling itself  by  a  memorable  deed,  is  imperishable 
in  its  influence,  and  when,  with  a  forecast  truly  pro- 
phetic, the  -Congress  that  convened  at  Halifax  in 
1776,  builded  as  for  a  great  future  for  their  descend- 
ants in  laying  the  injunction  upon  their  successors  to 
provide  institutions  for  the  higher  education  in  the 
State,  they  established  their  claim  to  the  lasting 
gratitude  of  posterity.     All  honor  to  these  men ! 

But  I  am  to  speak  of  times  more  modern  —  of  a 
•date  so  recent  that  most  of  us  here  can  recall  the 
period.  It  is  of  July,  1865,  when  the  Sophomore  class 
assembles  to  renew  their  studies  at  the  University 
after  the  six  weeks'  vacation.  An  unwonted  sight 
greets  our  eyes.  The  uniform  of  the  commissioned 
officer  of  the  victorious  Federal  army  is  met  in  these 
sequestered  walks,  where  had  only  been  seen  the 
subdued  mien  and  simple  habit  of  the  professor  and 
Student. 


12b'  Exercises  of  the  Class  of  1S6S. 

The  rattle  of  the  drum  striking  the  reveille,  the 
note  of  the  bugle  sounding  the  tattoo  is  heard  instead 
of  the  old  college  bell,  which,  it  was  President  Swain's 
boast,  had  never  ceased,  all  during  the  four  years  of  the 
civil  war,  to  toll  the  hours  for  prayer  and  recitation. 
The  old  college  bell!  Will  not  some  one  rise  up  and 
in  immortal  verse  embalm  the  memories  of  the  old 
Chapel  Hill  college  bell?  Imagine  it  to  speak.  What 
scenes  of  mirth  and  sadness:  of  success  and  failure; 
of  brilliant  pageantry  and  mournful  procession  it 
could  tell.  What  rude  awakenings  from  delightful 
dreams:  what  hurryings  to  early  chapel  and  recita- 
tion before  breakfast.  How  anxiously  its  tones  were 
awaited,  as  the  trembling  student  stands  before  the 
remorseless  professor,  or  momentarily  expects  to  be 
called  up  to  recite  a  lesson  he  has  not  prepared. 
We  can  imagine  how  joyously  it  pealed  forth 
when  the  first  exercises  at  the  institution  were 
inaugurated  nearly  a  century  ago.  It  has  presided 
year  after  year  since  over  the  destinies  of  the  col- 
lege. What  manly  forms  and  beautiful  women  it 
has  seen  go  in  and  out  these  well-worn  halls  —  some 
never  to  return.  How  sad  it  must  have  felt  when  its 
last  note  sounded  the  dispersion  of  the  old  Faculty 
the  year  we  graduated.  How  rusty  it  grew  in  its 
years  of  silence,  and  how  again,  in  1875,  it  pealed 
rapturously  forth  for  the  re-opening,  and  to-day.  the 


Exercises  of  the  Class  of  1868.  127 

one-hundredth  anniversary  of  the  granting  of  the 
charter  of  the  University,  how  every  fibre  vibrates 
with  emotion  as  it  heralds  forth  the  dawn  of  this 
memorable  day.     Yes,  old  bell, 

•'  Ring  out  the  old,  ring  in  the  new; 
Ring  out  the  false,  ring  in  the  ti  ue." 

The  Sophomore  class  of  '65— '66  assembles.  Some 
of  them  had  passed  their  Freshman  year  at  the 
University,  and  with  a  deserved  confidence  in  their 
success,  the  offspring  of  their  high  record  of  the  ses- 
sion passed,  are  eager  for  the  next  year's  work. 
Others,  tho'  but  boys  in  years  are  veterans  in  the  art 
of  all  arts,  having  met  the  gleaming  bayonets  of  their 
country's  foes  on  many  a  crimson-stained  field; 
but  now,  with  firm  resolve,  but  at  great  disadvan- 
tage in  the  race,  nerve  themselves  to  make  up  for 
lost  time  and  opportunities  denied. 

What  of  our  Faculty? 

To  the  old  student  these  buildings,  these  trees,  these 
walks  are  eloquent  with  the  memories  of  that  Faculty. 
There  were  Swain,  the  elder  and  younger  Phillips, 
Kerr,  Hubbard,  Fetter,  Hepburn,  Martin,  Smith. 
Where  are  they  now?  Most  of  them  dead.  The 
first  to  go  died  in  our  very  presence  with  his  harness 
on.  In  the  act  of  commending  those  under  his  care 
to  the  gracious  favor  of  a   merciful   Saviour,   Dr. 


128  Exercises  of  the  Class  of  1S6S. 

James  Phillips  fell  on  that  rostrum,  at  the  foot  of 
that  stand,  from  which  for  so  many  years  his  prayers 
had  ascended  to  heaven,  and  then  and  there  his 
spirit  left  its  aged  tenement  of  clay  and  winged  its 
flight  to  heaven. 

Not  long  remained  behind  his  coadjutor  in  their 
life's  work,  and.  as  if  to  spare  him  from  the  pain  and 
mortification  reserved  for  the  others,  the  venerable 
President  of  the  University  meets  with  an  untimely 
accident,  and,  in  a  few  weeks  after  we  graduate. 
David  L.  Swain  peacefully  expires  one  lovely  August 
-morning,  when  all  around  him  thought  lie  was  fast 
on  the  road  to  recovery.  Who  knows  that  it  was 
not  the  melancholy  outlook  for  the  future  of  his 
beloved  University  that  caused  his  great  heart  to 
faint?  and.  like  the  prophet  of  old.  he  turned  his  face 
to  the  wall  to  die.  unwilling  to  live. 

Long,  weary  years  of  separation,  yes,  dispersion, 
and,  may  I  say.  neglect,  elapse;  and,  one  day,  on  his 
knees  in  the  attitude  of  prayer,  after  a  brief  illness, 
another  aged  member  of  the  Faculty  of  our  day  is 
found  dead  in  his  room.  With  no  one  present  to 
minister  to  his  last  needs,  or  to  close  his  dying  eye. 
he  found,  from  other  sources  than  human,  the 
strength  to  bear  the  dread  ordeal,  and  he  passed 
through  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death,  doubtless 
to  reach  the  heavenlv  habitations  bevond. 


Exercises  of  the  Class  of  1868.  1291 

Professor  Fetter  is  soon  called  to  follow  Dr.  Hub- 
bard, and  the  love  of  his  children  prompts  them  to 
bring  his  remains  from  another  State,  where  he  diedr 
back  to  the  loved  abode  of  his  manhood's  prime,  so 
that,  like  the  aged  patriarch  of  old,  his  bones  may 
rest  by  the  side  of  his  wife ;  and  they  now  repose  in 
yonder  University  grave-yard. 

Scarcely  have  we  heard  the  clods  fall  on  his  grave 
before  another  near  it  has  to  be  dug,  and  we  mourn- 
fully consign  to  his  last  resting-place  the  mortal 
remains  of  Charles  Phillips. 

Could  we  penetrate  the  veil  that  conceals  the  blessed 
abodes  of  the  departed  good,  and  catch  a  glimpse  of 
that  life  beyond  the  grave,  can  we  doubt  in  that 
existence  there  is  some  recognition  between  those 
who  labored  and  loved  while  in  their  earthly  state? 
And  may  we  not  believe  that  the  pleasant  intercourse, 
which  death  for  a  time  interrupted,  will  be  renewed 
in  heaven;  and  when  the  disembodied  spirits  of 
Swain,  the  elder  and  younger  Phillips,  Kerr,  Hooper,. 
Fetter,  Hubbard,  left  their  earthly  habitations  and 
winged  their  flight  to  join  their  predecessors  in  the 
delights  of  Paradise,  they  found  in  that  blessed  abode 
the  friends  who  had  gone  before? 

And  with  what  cordial  greetings  they  welcome  the 
long  list  of  students  whom  they  will  remember  as 
young  men  acquiring  their  education  under  their 
9 


130  Exercises  of  the  Class  of  1868. 

tutelage!  Yes,  after  the  weary  years  have  been 
endured  and  they  sink  to  rest,  they  go  not  to  a 
strange  country,  but  to  a  home  peopled  with  loving 
hearts  and  cherished  friends. 

"  There  is  no  death!  what  seems  so  is  transition: 
This  life  of  mortal  breath 
Is  but  a  suburb  of  the  life  elysian, 
Whose  portal  we  call  death." 

For  them, 

"'  The  day  is  done,  and  the  darkness 
Falls  from  the  wings  of  Night. 
As  a  feather  is  wafted  downward 
From  an  eagle  in  his  flight. 

-'  And  the  night  shall  be  filled  with  music, 
And  the  cares  that  infest  the  day 
Shall  fold  their  tents,  like  the  Arabs. 
And  as  silently  steal  away," 

Here  I  beg  leave  to  put  on  record,  on  behalf  of  1113- 
class,  our  deep  sense  of  the  inestimable  value  of  the 
services  rendered  us  by  these  able,  conscientious  and 
self-denying  men. 

They  were  not  only  our  guides,  our  philosophers, 
but  they  were  our  friends  as  well ;  who,  in  season  and 
out  of  season,  in  the  class-room  and  out  of  it,  when 
we  were  near  and  when  we  were  away,  labored  and 
prayed  for   our  well-being.      Alexander  the    Great 


Exercises  of  the  Class  of  1868.  131 

felicitated  himself  more  on  having  Aristotle  as  his 
preceptor,  than  that  he  was  born  heir  to  a  throne. 
Was  there  ever  a  kindlier  company  of  men?  Did 
we  ever  go  to  them  in  our  perplexities  that  they 
did  not  cheerfully  point  out  the  way?  Did  they  not 
incite  in  their  students  a  spirit  of  enquiry,  of  inves- 
tigation and  enthusiasm  for  their  work  that  could 
not  be  surpassed?  The  influence  for  good  that  the 
old  Faculty  of  the  Universit}7  exercised  upon  the 
youth  of  North  Carolina  and  of  the  South  generally 
can  only  be  surmised,  it  cannot  be  calculated.  That 
influence  has  been  felt  in  the  forum,  on  the  hustings, 
in  the  pulpit,  on  the  bench,  in  the  professions,  in  the 
arts  and  sciences,  in  the  halls  of  Congress,  in  the 
presidential  chair  of  the  United  States. 

What  of  the  class  of  1868? 

From  July,  1865,  to  June,  1868,  we  sat  side  by 
side  in  daily  recitation ;  we  grew  to  know  and  respect 
each  other  as  few  classes  had  been  privileged.  We 
were  not  many  in  numbers.  We  started  in  the  race 
with  thirty-three,  but  only  nineteen  graduated.  This 
class,  beginning  its  Freshman  year  in  the  closing- 
scenes  of  the  greatest  war  of  modern  times,  was  now 
ending  its  college  course,  and  the  class  last  to  be  gradu- 
ated under  the  old  regime.  The  old  order  of  things 
was  to  give  way  to  the  new.  We  came  upon  the 
stage  in  critical  times  indeed.     Our  social  system  was 


132  Exercises  of  the  Class  of  1868. 

revolutionized.  Our  laws  had  to  be  remodeled  to 
suit  this  changed  condition  of  things.  Negro  suffrage 
was  upon  us  with  all  its  threatening  consequences. 
Our  courts  were  at  sea  how  to  interpret  the  new  sys- 
tem of  practice  and  procedure,  and  we  were  denied 
representation  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States. 
Permit  me  to  recall  the  scene  of  that  Thursday 
night  just  twenty-one  years  ago  —  the  night  of  the 
day  we  graduated.  We  had  spoken  our  graduating 
addresses.  Our  valedictorian,  in  words  of  touching 
pathos  that  will  linger  with  us  as  long  as  memory 
itself,  had  bid  us  good-bye.  The  Governor  of  our  State 
had  delivered  to  us  our  diplomas.  A  distinguished 
son  of  Connecticut  had  come  from  his  distant  home 
to  address  us.  The  youth  and  beauty  of  the  State 
were  here  to  grace  the  occasion,  and  from  all  parts  of 
North  Carolina  prominent  representatives  of  all  the 
professions  and  business  interests  had  met  once 
again,  before  it  all  should  be  changed,  to  revive  the 
hallowed  associations  of  their  early  days.  The  class 
of  1868  is  no  longer  matriculate ;  we  are  Alumni. 
The  last  scene  is  the  final  grand  ball.  Can  any  of 
us  ever  forget  that  night?  Dear  to  the  memory  of 
the  old  student  is  Smith  Hall.  There  he  went  to 
be  initiated  in  the  graces  of  posture  and  step  that 
prepared  him  for  the  Commencement  gaieties.  There 
he  joined   in   the    dignified    cotillion   and   graceful 


Exercises  of  the  Class  of  1868.  133 

mazurka  with  his  fair  visitor,  and  there  he  exchanged 
with  his  lovely  partner  the  honied  accents  of  requited 
love. 

"  There  was  a  sound  of  revelry  that  night: 
And  Carolina  had  gathered  there 
Her  beauty  and  her  chivalry:  and  bright 
The  lamps  shone  o'er  fair  women  and  brave  men: 
A  thousand  hearts  beat  happily:  and  when 
Music  arose  with  its  voluptuous  swell. 
Soft  eyes  looked  love  to  eyes  which  spake  again, 
And  all  went  merry  as  a  marriage  bell." 

On  went  the  dance;  joy  was  unconfined,  and  not 
till  the  beams  of  the  morning  sun,  glancing  through 
the  windows,  dimmed  the  light  of  the  lamps,  did 
that  festive  scene  come  to  an  end,  and  for  tiveiit;/- 
one  years  we  do  not,  as  a  class,  meet  again. 

It  will  not  be  expected  of  me  to  intrench  on  the 
province  of  our  historian ;  it  will  suffice  to  say  that 
I  do  not  know  of  one  of  our  class  who  has  been  a 
failure.  Thirteen  became  lawyers,  five  doctors,  two 
teachers,  two  manufacturers,  one  an  editor,  one  a 
banker,  one  a  poet  and  one  a  merchant.  Five  have 
represented  their  counties  in  the  State  Legislature, 
and  have  shaped  legislation  for  the  well-being  of 
their  people.  The  legal  department  of  the  general 
government  now  receives  the  distinguished  services 
of  one  of  our  class;  the  responsible  position  of  State 


134  Exercises  of  the  Class  of  1868. 

Solicitor  is  rilled  by  another;  the  diplomatic  service 
has  also  been  enriched  by  the  labors  of  another; 
another  holds  a  responsible  office  in  the  revenue 
department;  others  are  distinguished  members  of 
the  legal  and  medical  professions:  another  bears  to 
a  large  corporation  the  position  of  legal  adviser  and 
others  are  doing  their  duty  in  their  respective  voca- 
tions of  life. 

But  all  who  were  with  us  twenty  years  ago  are 
not  here  to-day.  But  one  cause  could  keep  them 
away.  Death  has  invaded  our  circle,  and  five  of  our 
comrades  sleep  their  last  sleep — Barlow,  Fuller,  Har- 
per, Mallett  and  Morehead.  To  us  all  there  come 
times  when  the  realization  of  the  loss  we  have  sus- 
tained in  the  separation  from  loved  ones  seems  inex- 
pressibly great,  and  we  feel  as  never  before  — 

"Oh.  for  the  touch  of  a  vanished  hand 
And  the  sound  of  a  voice  that  is  still." 

I  cannot  refrain  from  alluding  here  more  than  by 
mere  name  to  one  of  this  number.  80  recent  has 
been  his  death ;  the  sorrow  for  his  loss  is  so  fresh, 
and  the  State  he  loved  so  well  and  served  so  nobly 
is  such  a  loser  in  his  untimely  taking-off,  more  than 
a  passing  word  should  be  spoken  of  him. 

••He,  the  young  and  strong,  who  cherished 
Noble  longings  for  the  strife, 
By  the  road-side  fell  and  perished. 
Weary  with  the  march  of  life." 


Exercises  of  the  Class  of  1868.  135 

Just  a  year  ago  Eugene  Morehead  was  here  in 
attendance  on  Com  mencement.  He  was  convalescent 
from  what  we  all  had  feared  was  a  mortal  illness, 
and  he  was  buoyed  up  with  the  hope  of  ultimate 
recovery.  Though  weak,  he  could  not  resist  coming 
to  a  Chapel  Hill  Commencement,  for  this  place  was 
always  in  truth  to  him  his  Alma  Mater. 

You  all  know  what  a  faithful  student  he  was, 
sharing  the  highest  honors  of  his  class.  Though  of 
ample  means,  he  was  ambitious  to  do  his  State  some 
service,  and  after  a  brief  vacation  spent  in  travel 
he  actively  engaged  in  business.  That  he  made  a 
success  of  it,  was  not  surprising.  Another  (J.  S. 
Carr,  memorial  address)  has,  in  a  manner  which  I 
cannot  presume  to  equal,  told  us  of  his  many  virtues 
and  of  his  extraordinary  qualities  of  heart  and 
mind ;  I  will  not  attempt  a  repetition. 

As  I  think  over  our  three  years  of  intimacy  as 
class-mates,  of  the  twenty  years  of  friendship  after- 
wards, and  now  realize  that  it  is  all  buried  in  the 
grave,  what  would  we  not  give  for  another  sound  of 
that  voice  and  another  grasp  of  that  hand.  That  a 
man,  so  well  equipped  by  gifts  of  mind^  high  charac- 
ter and  trained  intellect  to  serve  his  State  and 
country,  should  be  taken  in  his  prime,  and  others 
left  who  can  claim  no  such  excellence,  is  indeed 
mysterious.     Death  ever  loves  a  shining  mark. 


136  Exercises  of  the  Class  of  1868. 

How  cordially  Eugene  Morehead  would  have  wel- 
comed us  here,  and  united  with  us  in  all  the  memo- 
ries of  this  day. 

The  manifestation  of  universal  sorrow  at  his  death, 
so  marked  in  the  home  of  his  adoption  and  pride,  is 
a  higher  tribute  to  his  worth  than  any  eulogy  from 
me.  We  can  truthfully  say  of  him :  "Sic  jacet, 
quern  religio  et  scientia  condecorare  avebant." 

And  now,  fellow  class-mates,  this  day  should  not 
be  wholly  given  up  to  retrospect,  but  there  are 
duties  ahead  of  us  which  this  anniversary  should 
incite  us  to  perform.  When  the  200th  anniversary 
shall  be  celebrated,  most  of  us  here  will  not  be  among 
the  mentioned  few.  We  will  have  been  forgotten. 
But  may  we  not  do  a  simple  thing,  which  will  ever 
be  associated  with  this  anniversary? 

A  few  weeks  since  I  was  walking  through  the 
beautiful  city  of  the  dead  in  the  capital  of  our  State. 
There  my  eye  was  attracted  by  a  monument  which, 
for  beauty  of  design,  richness  of  ornament  and  purity 
of  material,  was  marked  conspicuously  over  all  the 
others.  When  I  came  to  see  in  whose  memory  a 
tomb  so  costly  had  been  reared,  I  thought  of  a  monu- 
ment which  the  dead  man  himself  had  erected ; 
much  nobler,  more  enduring  and  far  grander  than 
any  structure  of  mere  human  ingenuity.  In  be- 
queathing five  thousand   dollars  to  the  Trustees  of 


Exercises  of  the  Class  of  1868.  137 

the  University  to  be  applied  to  paying  the  tuition  of 
students,  the  Hon.  Bartholomew  F.  Moore  erected 
his  own  monument,  and  one  which  will  last  when 
marble  and  granite  and  brass  and  bronze  shall  have 
been  resolved  into  the  elements  that  gave  them  birth. 

And  when  I  think  of  that  aged  maiden  woman 
who,  in  her  solitary  life  and  secluded  home,  cherished 
such  noble  longings  for  her  country,  and  in  be- 
queathing her  property  to  be  divided  between  her 
church  and  the  State  University,  set  us  all  such  an 
example  of  patriotic  love  of  country  that  we  must 
blush  if  we  fail  to  emulate  it,  I  bow  my  head  in 
profound  homage  to  the  name  of  Mary  R.  Smith. 

Let  us  this  centennial  year  derive  inspiration  from 
the  thoughts  this  celebration  gives  rise  to,  and  dedi- 
cate ourselves  anew  to  the  good  of  our  State  and 
country.  If,  twenty  centuries  ago,  a  Roman  audi- 
ence could  receive  with  a  burst  of  applause  the 
noble  sentiment  of  •  the  heathen  poet  — 

"  Homo  sum :  humani  nil  a  me  alienum  puto." 

how  much  more  should  we,  in  this  nineteenth  century 
of  Christian  civilization  cherish,  revere  and  strive  to 
perpetuate  the  noble  institutions  of  our  country? 


THE  CENTENNIAL  ALUMNI  REUNION 


BY    CLASSES,    IN    MEMORIAL    HALL. 


On  Wednesday  of  Commencement  week,  June 
5th,  1889,  the  Alumni  of  the  University,  together 
with  many  visitors  from  other  States  and  univer- 
sities and  a  large  concourse  of  citizens  of  North 
Carolina,  assembled  in  Memorial  Hall,  to  celebrate 
the  Centennial  Anniversary  of  the  incorporation  of 
the  institution. 

The  day  was  clear  and  pleasant,  and  by  eleven 
o'clock  the  hall  was  filled  to  its  full  capacity.  Seated 
on  the  stage  were  Governor  D.  G.  Fowle,  Chief  Jus- 
tice W.  N.  H.  Smith,  Justices  Joseph  J.  Davis  and  A. 
C.  Avery,  Hon.  Paul  C  Cameron,  Gen.  Thomas  L. 
Clingman,  Gen.  Rufus  Barringer,  Dr.  A.  J.  DeRos- 
sett,  Hon.  Robert  P.  Dick,  Hon.  W.  L.  Steele, 
Hon.  W.  L.  Saunders,  Hon.  S.  M.  Finger,  Hon. 
Donald  Bain,  Rt,  Rev.  Theo.  B.  Lyman,  Hon. 
Joseph  B.  Batchelor,  Hon.  G.  W.  Sanderlin,  Hon. 
Thomas  S.  Kenan,  Hon.  John  A.  Gilmer,  Hon.  John 
W.  Graham,  Dr.  Eugene  Grissom,  Hon.  W.  M.  Shipp, 
Col.  William  Johnston,  Col.  H.  R,  Shorter,  W.  N. 


140      Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes. 

Mebane,  Esq.,  James  H.  Horner,  Esq.,  Maj.  Robert 
Bingham,  Thomas  W.  Harriss,  Esq.,  Hon.  Thomas  J. 
Jarvis,  Hon.  R.  H.  Battle,  Col.  A.  B.  Andrews,  Dr. 
W.  L.  Stamps,  Maj.  J.  Turner  Moreheacl,  Julian  S. 
Carr,  Esq.,  Charles  A.  Cook,  Esq.,  R.  H.  Smith,  Esq., 
Dr.  L.  C.  Taylor,  W.  E.  Hill,  Esq.,  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  E. 
Skinner,  Hon.  Thomas  W.-Mason,  A.  H.  Merritt,  Esq., 
Col.  F.  A.  Olds,  H.  A.  London,  Esq.,  Josephus  Daniels, 
Esq.,  Dr.  J.  L.  M.  Curry,  Dr.  W.  G.  Brown,  of  Wash- 
ington and  Lee  University;  Dr.  Crawford  H.  Toy,  of 
Harvard  University :  Col.  Charles  S.  Venable,  of  the 
University  of  Virginia;  Dr.  Henry  E.  Shepherd,  of 
the  College  of  Charleston;  Dr.  W.  B.  Burney  and 
Dr.  F.  C.  Woodward,  of  South  Carolina  University: 
President  C.  E.  Taylor,  of  Wake  Forest  College; 
Prof.  A.  W.  Long,  of  Wofford  College,  and  the  Presi- 
dent and  Faculty  of  the  University  of  North  Caro- 
lina. Hundreds  of  Alumni  and  other  distinguished 
visitors  were  seated  on  the  floor  of  the  hall. 

The  President  of  the  Alumni  Association,  Hon. 
Walter  L.  Steele,  called  the  Association  to  order,  and 
appointed  Messrs.  Henry  A.  London  and  Josephus 
Daniels  to  act  as  secretaries.  In  behalf  of  the  Com- 
mittee of  Arrangements  and  of  the  University,  the 
Hon.  John  Manning  spoke  as  follows: 


Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes.      141 

Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Alumni  Asso- 
ciation: It  is  due  to  the  Alumni  Committee  and  to 
General  Ransom,  that  I  should  state  that  we  had 
requested  him,  and  he  had  consented,  to  deliver  the 
address  to  the  Association  at  this  hour;  but  that, 
greatly  to  his  regret  and  our  disappointment,  a  painful 
accident  —  an  arm  broken  on  last  Saturday  —  pre- 
vents this  distinguished  alumnus  from  being  with 
us  and  compels  a  change  of  programme  on  our  part. 

I  desire  further  to  state  on  behalf  of  the  Alumni 
Committee  that,  owing  to  unavoidable  delays,  the 
members  of  this  Committee  were  not  appointed 
until  just  before  Christmas,  1888,  and  that  the  Com- 
mittee could  not  enter  upon  the  discharge  of  its  duties 
until  the  month  of  January,  1889.  Since  that  date 
we  have  been  actively  employed,  and  in  response  to 
our  call  the  living  sons  of  our  venerable  Alma  Mater, 
with  loving,  loyal  hearts,  have  gathered  here  from 
all  over  this  great  country,  from  Colorado  in  the 
North-west  to  Florida  in  the  South-east,  and  from 
New  York  to  Texas,  to  commemorate  this  centennial 
anniversary  of  the  birth  of  the  University  of  North 
Carolina.  We  are  here  to  shake  each  other  by  the 
hand,  to  brush  away  the  lichens  and  the  moss  from 
memory's  tablet,  to  draw  inspiration  from  the  past 
and  to  gather  hope  and  courage  for  the  future. 

Her  dead  sons,  whose  names  are  inscribed  in  mar- 
ble on  these  memorial   walls,   in  their  lives  filled 


142      Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes. 

every  office,  from  President  of  the  United  States  to 
Consul,  and  illustrated  in  civil  life  the  history  of 
the  State  and  of  the  nation,  and  these  four  tab- 
lets, containing  the  roll  of  our  Confederate  dead, 
from  the  Lieutenant  General  of  the  class  of  1821 
to  the  boy-lieutenant  of  1865  (two  hundred  and 
sixty-four  in  all)  demonstrate  that,  in  peace  and  in 
war,  the  sons  of  our  venerable  mother  are  prompt 
to  respond  to  the  call  of  duty,  and  their  eminent 
public  services  and  private  worth  have  immortalized 
the  training  received  here  in  these  halls  of  our 
fathers.  May  we  not  hope  that  the  spirits  of  the 
dead  are  hovering  over  us,  and  as  memory  recalls 
their  loved  faces  can  we  not  feel  the  stir  of  their 
angel  wings  on  our  cheeks? 

The  delegates  from  our  sister  colleges  of  the  State, 
and  from  Harvard,  Yale,  Cornell,  Washington  and 
Lee,  the  University  of  Virginia,  Richmond  College, 
the  University  of  South  Carolina,  the  College  of 
Charleston  and  from  Wofford  College,  are  here  to 
congratulate  us  on  our  past  history  and  to  bid  us 
God  speed  for  the  future. 

The  distinguished  gentleman  who  dispenses  the 
great  charity  that  has  made  the  name  of  George 
Peabody  the  synonym  of  love  and  brotherhood 
throughout  our  South-land,  is  here  to  show  his  appre- 
ciation of  university  education,  as  the  head  of  the 
public  school  system  of  the  State. 


Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes.      143 

The  Governor,  the  Judges  of  the  Supreme  and  of 
the  Superior  Courts  and  other  State  officers  are 
here  to  do  homage  to  the  University  as  one  of  the 
most  important  factors  in  promoting  the  prosperity 
and  happiness  of  the  State.  This  immense  concourse 
of  the  men  and  women  of  the  State  is  here  to  show 
how  deeply  rooted  in  the  hearts  of  the  people  is  this 
nursing  mother  of  our  youth,  without  distinction  as 
to  class,  rank  or  sect, 

To  one  and  all  we  extend  a  hearty  welcome,  and 
our  united  prayer  is  that  this  the  oldest  University 
of  the  South  may  be  the  greatest  in  energ}r  and  use- 
fulness. 

President  Steele  now  stated  that  the  roll  of  classes 
would  be  called  by  the  years  of  graduation,  and 
requested  that  the  members  of  each  class  would 
come  forward  as  called  and  assemble  on  the  plat- 
form: as  each  class  assembled,  its  representative 
would  have  an  opportunity  to  address  the  class  and 
the  Association.*  Secretary  London  called  the  roll 
of  classes,  and  the  first  response  was  from  the 


*Tbe  speeches  made  on  this  occasion  were,  as  a  rule, impromptu  and 
not  intended  for  publication  Both  the  speakers  and  the  committee 
of  publication  are  aware  that  the  interest  which  attached  to  many  of 
them  was  mainlj  local  and  temporary ;  but  the  Alumni  Association 
having  ordered  their  publication,  they  are  all  herein  inserted,  essen- 
tially unaltered,  as  a  part  of  the  res  gestae  of  the  occasion . 


114     Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Tlasses. 

Class  of  182 7. 

The  sole  surviving  graduate  of  this  class  was  Dr.  A. 
J.  DeRossett,  who  was,  therefore,  the  oldest  alumnus 
present.  On  motion,  it  was  unanimously  resolved 
that  Dr.  DeRossett  accept  the  chair  as  honorary 
President  of  the  Association.  Dr.  DeRossett  re- 
sponded as  follows: 

Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Alumni  Associa- 
tion: I  shrink  from  the  attempt  to  give  expression 
to  the  feelings  which  crowd  upon  me  on  account 
of  your  kindness  in  tendering  me  the  great  honor 
of  acting  as  honorary  President  of  this  meeting. 

Knowing,  however,  that  I  have  been  selected  for 
the  position  as  the  oldest  graduate  present  of  this 
honored  institution  —  and  perhaps  the  oldest  one  liv- 
ing—  I  ask  you  to  allow  me  to  take  it  with  the  frank 
avowal  that  I  am  unconscious  of  possessing  any  per- 
sonal fitness  or  qualification  for  it,  profoundly  regret- 
ting that,  in  the  order  of  Providence,  the  life  of  a  Gra- 
ham, a  Manly,  a  Norwood, or  some  other  distinguished 
member  of  my  class  (of  1821)  has  not  been  pre- 
served to  take  part  in  this  centennial  anniversary. 
I  therefore  accept  this  chair  with  earnest  wishes  for 
the  happiness  and  prosperity  of  each  and  every  one 
of  the  members  of  this  Association,  and  with  intense 
interest  in  the  future  of  this  great  University. 


Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes.      145 

The 

Class  of  182  j 

Was  represented  by  Hon.  Paul  C.  Cameron. 

The 
Class  of  1831 

Was  represented  by  Giles  Mebane, Esq.,  who  said: 

A  graduate  under  Dr.  Joseph  Caldwell,  appearing 
before  this  large  and  intelligent  audience,  on  this 
Centennial  occasion,  may  be  excused  for  submitting 
a  few  remarks  as  an  humble  tribute  to  the  memory 
of  that  venerable  and  venerated  man. 

Called  to  preside  over  the  College  in  its  infancy, 
his  administration  proved  the  wisdom  of  the  Trustees 
in  the  choice  they  had  made,  and  in  placing  the 
right  man  in  the  right  place.  The  success  of  a  col- 
lege with  Southern  boys  in  North  Carolina  was  a 
doubtful  experiment  at  that  period  of  our  history. 
Scholars  came  from  slave-holding  plantations  and 
the  aristocracy  of  towns  and  villages.  To  them  sub- 
mission to  authority  and  discipline  was  uncon- 
genial and  irksome.  Their  loyalty  to  collegiate 
authority  was  not  enhanced  by  the  change  of  the 
luxuries  of  the  domestic  side-board  and  pantry 
for  the  dubious  fare  of  a  steward's  hall.  The  gift  of 
10 


146     Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes. 

needful  strength  for  self-defence  and  the  physical 
power  of  successful  assault  and  battery  were  more 
esteemed  by  them  than  mental  endowments.  The 
temperance  society  being  then  unknown,  the  sale, 
manufacture  and  consumption  of  intoxicants  went 
the  even  tenor  of  their  way  without  let  or  hindrance. 
Young  Americans  of  that  day  regarded  themselves 
lords  of  creation,  "born  to  command."  I  will  illus- 
trate by  an  example:  An  athlete  came  down  from 
the  mountains  to  join  college  and  was  matriculated. 
During  the  assembly  of  students  and  Faculty  in 
the  old  Chapel  for  evening  prayer,  he  inspected 
the  Faculty  with  a  critic's  eye  and  said  to  his  next 
neighbor:  "Are  these  the  Faculty?  I  can.  whip 
the  whole  of  them  myself." 

Dr.  Caldwell  was  of  imposing  presence,  and  always 
of  scrupulously  neat  apparel ;  his  moral  courage  was 
indomitable,  his  activity  and  bodily  strength  equal 
to  any  encounter,  whether  in  the  class-room  or  on 
the  campus;  no  one  ever  touched  his  person  in  a 
rude  and  angry  manner.  His  bearing  towards  the 
students  was  marked  by  that  gentle  politeness  which 
springs  from  learning  and  from  contact  with  the  best 
society.  The  students,  on  their  part,  respected  and 
revered  him,  and  also  feared  him  with  that  sort  of 
fear  which  a  dutiful  son  has  for  a  respected  father. 
The  college  increased  in  patronage  and  popularity, 


Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes.      147 

and  became  a  favorite  institution  with  the  South. 
Soon  more  buildings  were  required,  and  the  South 
Building  was  erected,  mainly  through  the  personal 
efforts  and  influence  of  Dr.  Caldwell. 

We  all  well  know  that  under  the  administration 
of  the  present  executive  and  of  his  meritorious  pre- 
decessor, Governor  Swain,  the  institution  has  far  sur- 
passed the  college  left  by  Dr.  Caldwell  in  educational 
equipment.  So  our  great  country  has  gone  far 
beyond  the  prosperity  and  grandeur  dreamed  of  in 
General  Washington's  philosophy.  Yet  we  justly 
call  him  the  "  Father  of  his  Country."  Why  should 
we  not  call  Dr.  Caldwell  the  "Father  of  the  Univer- 
sity," and  place  his  tablet  in  the  most  conspicuous 
place  in  Memorial  Hall? 

The  Doctor  was  not  only  first  and  foremost  in 
establishing  this  institution  of  learning,  but  first  and 
foremost  to  advocate  internal  improvements  in  North 
Carolina  by  the  construction  of  a  railroad  from 
Beaufort  to  the  mountains.  He  advocated  the 
project  in  a  series  of  articles  published  in  the  papers, 
under  the  signature  of  "  Carlton,"  and  by  popular 
addresses.  The  first  railroad  meeting  ever  held  in 
North  Carolina  was  called  by  him  in  1828,  at  Sandy 
Grove,  in  Chatham  county,  on  the  supposed  line  of 
his  projected  road;  but,  alas!  North  Carolina  was 
then  nick-named  "  Rip  Van  Winkle,"  a  reproachful 


148     Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes. 

term  no  longer  deserved,  and  the  Doctor  was 
denounced  in  the  Senate  Chamber  of  the  State  as 
a  clerical  aristocrat  by  a  gentleman  who  afterwards 
became  Senator  in  Congress  from  Mississippi. 

Dr.  Caldwell,  for  his  great  knowledge  of  geometry 
and  astronomy,  was  selected  to  establish  the  Western 
boundary  of  our  State  —  a  work  satisfactorily  com- 
pleted. 

The  Doctor's  influence  in  the  church  to  which  he 
belonged  was  acknowledged  in  all  courts  of  the 
church  which  he  attended. 

In  conjunction  with  Dr.  John  Rice,  he  was  actively 
instrumental  in  founding  Union  Seminary,  in  Prince 
Edward  county,  Virginia.  He  controlled  the  Synod 
of  North  Carolina,  while  Dr.  Rice  controlled  that  of 
Virginia. 

Dr.  Caldwell  was  the  first  President  of  the  Board 
of  Trustees  of  that  institution,  and  that  seminary 
has  done  more  to  promote  the  Southern  branch  of 
the  Presbyterian  Church  than  any  other  theological 
school,  and  is  now  well  endowed  and  prosperous. 

The  Doctor,  while  deeply  interested  in  high  educa- 
tion and  the  general  welfare  of  the  State  and  the 
growth  and  prosperity  of  the  Church,  was  not 
unmindful  of  the  poor  around  him.  He  had  his 
proteges,  to  whom  he  dispensed  alms,  and  one  (Jones 
by  name)  enjoyed  so  much  of  the  Doctor's  bounty 


Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes.      149 

that  his  neighbors  nick-named  him  Fillwell  Jones, 
and  another  protege  of  the  Doctor  complained  to 
him  that  his  bounties  to  Jones  were  excessive. 

The  Doctor  spoke  of  this  coin  plaint  to  his  step- 
son, Dr.  William  Hooper,  who  replied :  "  Why  did 
you  not  say  to  Potts,  '  Son,  thou  art  ever  with  me, 
and  all  I  have  is  thine?'  " 

Our  University  is  the  child  of  the  State  Constitu- 
tion and  had  many  god-fathers,  chief  of  whom  was 
General  Davie,  assisted  by  his  compeers,  the  Scotch- 
Irish  Presbyterians.  Each  legislator  takes  an  oath 
to  support  the  Constitution,  and,  consequently,  to 
support  every  institution  constitutionally  established. 
I  have  said  enough  for  an  octogenarian.  I  take  final 
leave  of  this  splendid  audience,  in  this  magnificent 
hall,  on  this  memorable  occasion,  the  centennial  of 
North  Carolina's  University.  Long  may  she  pros- 
per and  her  shadow  never  grow  less. 

Hon.  James  Grant,  of  Davenport,  Iowa,  also  a 
member  of  the  class,  was  on  his  way  to  the  celebra- 
tion, but  the  unusual  floods  prevented  his  coming 
farther  than  Washington,  D.  C. 

The  following  letter,  received  from  him  in  response 
to  an  invitation  to  attend  the  celebration,  deserves  a 
place  in  the  record  of  the  proceedings: 


150     Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes, 

Grant's  Springs,  Cal.,  March  12,  1889. 

John  Manning,  Esq.,  et  a!.,  Chapel  Hill,  N.  C: 

Dear  Sirs:  Your  invitation  to  the  centennial  of 
the  University  has  been  forwarded  to  me  from 
Davenport,  my  place  of  residence,  to  Grant's  Springs, 
in  California,  where  I  stay  most  of  my  time,  to  pro- 
long a  life  no  longer  useful  but  to  me. 

I  belong  to  the  class  of  1827,  which  I  joined  in 
the  Sophomore  year  in  1828,  and  which  graduated 
in  1831.  I  expect  that  Giles  Mebane,  who  was  my 
room-mate  at  Dr.  Caldwell's,  is  alive,  and  I  have  not 
heard  of  the  Rev.  W.  W.  Spear  since  1878.  Then 
nine  of  the  graduating  class  of  1831  were  alive.  If 
Mebane  and  Spear  are  alive,  we  are  the  survivors. 
I  am  the  youngest  of  that  class,  and  I  am  in  my 
77th  year. 

In  1820  my  father  took  me  to  Chapel  Hill  to  join 
the  Freshman  class,  but  Dr.  Caldwell  looked  down 
on  me  from  under  his  shaggy  eyebrows  and  said: 
"  That  boy  is  too  young  for  college  life,  bring  him 
two  years  hence  and  let  him  join  the  Sophomore." 

I  cannot,  to-day,  give  you  a  promise  to  be  at 
Chanel  Hill,  but  if  I  can  arrange  my  now  small 
business  so  as  to  leave  here,  I  shall  be  there,  of  which 
I  will  give  you  due  notice. 

Thompson  was  the  only  man  of  my  class  who 
attained  political  distinction  and  national  reputation. 


Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes.      151 

Calvin  Jones  was  a  Judge  of  the  Superior  Court  in 
Tennessee;  Mebane  and  Williamson  went  to  the 
Legislature;  Hooper  was  professor  at  Chapel  Hill; 
Spear  was  a  clergyman.  I  came  to  the  Northwest, 
grew  up  with  it,  held  office  a  little  in  early  life,  made 
a  large  fortune  as  a  lawyer;  have  given  away  most 
of  it,  and  own  as  large  a  library  of  law  books  as  any 
man  in  England  or  America.  It  has  cost  me  over 
forty  thousand  dollars. 

At  the  advanced  age  of  seventy-six  I  am  cultivat- 
ing an  orchard  and  vineyard  in  an  unknown  place, 
in  the  Sierra  Nevada  Mountains,  and  keeping  a 
tavern  for  parties  who  visit  the  wonder  of  the  whole 
earth — the  Yosemite  Valley.  My  life  has  been  a 
useful,  though  obscure  one,  and  when  I  leave  this 
world  I  shall  not  be  in  debt  to  it.  All  this  of  self 
might  savor  of  egotism,  if  I  were  not  writing  as  a 
child  of  the  University  of  North  Carolina,  whose 
little  units,  scattered  over  this  wide  world,  make  it  a 
great  whole.  Your  obedient  servant, 

James  Grant. 

The 
Class  of  /8j2 

Was  represented  by  Gen.  Thos.  L.  Clingman,  R. 
H.  Smith,  Esq.,  and  Thos.  W.  Harriss,  Esq.,  who  all 
made  speeches. 


152     Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes. 
Mr.  Clingman  said: 

Mr.  President,  Gentlemen  and  Ladies:  Ladies,  if 
I  refer  to  you  last,  it  is  on  the  principle  on  which  I 
acted  as  a  boy  when  I  always  saved  my  biggest  and 
sweetest  apple  for  the  last.  An  incident  occurred  at 
the  Commencement  of  1S32,  which  will  give  you  an 
idea  of  the  influence  you  ladies  have  on  young  gen- 
tlemen. Chapel  Hill  then  had  only  about  five  single 
ladies  in  its  population,  and  the  boy  who  got  a  chance 
to  walk  with  one  of  them  to  the  chapel  was  said  to 
have  gallanted  her.  After  I  had  been  there  a  long 
while  I  got  an  opportunity  to  gallant  one  of  the 
young  ladies,  and  I  felt  as  proud,  perhaps,  as  one  of 
our  presidents  does  on  the  day  of  his  inauguration. 

Judge  Gaston  was  the  deliverer  of  the  annual 
address  on  that  occasion,  and  I,  as  the  representative 
of  the  Dialectic  Society,  and  Thomas  S.  Ashe,  as  the 
representative  of  the  Philanthropic,  were  to  march 
with  him  at  the  head  of  the  column  of  students. 
The  man  who  marched  on  the  left  of  Gaston  would 
be  next  to  the  chapel,  and  would  be  seen  by  the 
ladies  who  were  looking  out  of  the  windows.  Ashe 
said  to  me,  "  Clingman,  as  I  am  the  handsomest  man 
in  college,  you  must  let  me  march  on  the  left  of 
Gaston  so  that  the  ladies  can  see  me."  I  disputed 
the  point,  and   claimed  my  right  as  the  receiver  of 


Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes.      153 

the  first  distinction,  and  marched  next  the  ladies. 
After  we  ascended  the  stand  we  sat  on  either  side  of 
Gaston.  I  looked  down  proudly  on  many  ladies. 
Immediately  in  my  front,  quite  near,  sat  one  whom 
I  thought  the  most  beautiful  lady  I  had  ever  seen. 
I  kept  my  eyes  so  much  on  her  that  she  noticed  me, 
and  our  interchange  of  glances  attracted  the  atten- 
tion of  several  persons.  In  the  evening  at  the  ball 
I  was  introduced  to  her,  but  I  never  afterwards  met 
her.  Such  was  the  impression  she  made  on  me  that 
I  wrote  some  verses,  which  I  showed  to  my  class- 
mate, John  L.  Hargrave,  who  thought  so  favorably 
of  them  that  I  consented  to  allow  him  to  have  them 
printed  in  a  newspaper.  I  was  afterwards  told  that 
the  lady  admired  them  very  much.  I  will  repeat  a 
few  lines  to  let  you  see  what  impression  you  ladies 
can  make  on  young  gentlemen : 

"  Thou  dost  not  need  a  line  from  me 
To  blaze  abroad  thy  beauty's  fame; 
The  verse  must  catch  its  hue  from  thee, 
That  bears  the  signet  of  thy  name. 

On  others  I  can  coldly  gaze, 

And  scan  each  feature  fair  or  dark; 

But  thine  seem  one  unclouded  bla?;e 

That  mock  my  skill  and  power  to  mark. 


154      Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes. 

Thy  tresses,  midnight,  well  I  ween, 

To  others  faintly  may  be  taught: 
By  rainbow's  tint  and  ivory's  sheen. 

Thy  color  changeful  as  the  thought. 

Thine  eye  had  been  as  '  bUck  as  death," 

But  that  it  casts  a  stream  of  light 
To  speed  the  gazer's  failing  breath. 

And  brighten  up  his  changeless  sight." 

I  will  now  refer  to  another  case,  which  will  tend  to 
show  what  yon  can  do  on  older  persons,  and  which 
I  regard  as  the  most  important  of  the  two. 

I  did  not  become  a  member  of  a  Christian  church 
till  I  was  considerably  advanced  in  life.  This,  how- 
ever, was  not  due  to  my  being  destitute  of  religious 
feeling.  In  fact,  I  remember  that  when  the  great 
phrenologist,  Fowler,  once  examined  my  head,  he 
expressed  surprise  at  the  size  of  my  organ  of  spirit- 
uality and  said,  "  You  see  ghosts."  I  answered,  that 
though  I  had  never  seen  one,  I  fully  believed  in  the 
existence  of  spiritual  beings.  In  fact,  when  I  was 
a  very  small  boy,  and  was  throwing  stones  at  the 
birds,  I  would  kneel  by  a  tree  and  pray  that  I  might 
kill  one.  In  fact,  all  through  my  life  I  was  strongly 
under  the  influence  of  religious  feelings,  and  con- 
stantly was  hoping  to  feel  able  to  become  a  member 
of  one  of  the  Christian  churches.  More  than  twenty 
years  ago,  not  long  after  the  close  of  the  war,  I  was 


Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes.      155 

at  an  evening  party  in  the  city  of  New  York,  and 
was  introduced  to  a  handsomely  dressed  young  lady. 
After  a  little  conversation  I  remarked  that  I  did  not 
feel  much  happiness  in  life.  She  instantly  replied, 
"  I  can  tell  you  the  reason."  I  supposed  she  would 
say,  as  hundreds  of  people  had  done,  "  It  is  because 
you  have  never  married."  To  my  surprise,  however, 
she  said,  "  It  is  because  you  are  not  a  member  of  any 
church."  I  admitted  that  I  was  not.  She  immedi- 
ately began  to  talk  to  me  in  the  most  earnest  man- 
ner, and  her  conversation  made  on  me  a  far  greater 
impression  than  any  sermon  that  I  had  ever  listened 
to.  The  earnest  manner  of  that  fashionably  dressed 
young  lady,  in  such  an  assembly,  made  so  deep  an 
impression  on  me  that  on  the  next  morning  I  pur- 
chased a  copy  of  the  New  Testament  and  determined 
to  read  at  least  one  of  the  gospels  every  Sunday,  and 
to  attend  church  regularly.  Not  long  afterwards  I 
connected  myself  with  the  Episcopal  Church. 

The  first  of  these  cases  shows  the  influence  of  you 
ladies  over  men  in  matters  of  this  world  of  the  flesh ; 
the  second  shows  what  you  may  be  able  to  do  to 
influence  their  condition  in  the  spiritual  world  of 
Heaven. 

A  good  wife  has 'more  influence  over  her  husband 
than  anyone  else  can  have.  Husbands  generally 
regard  their  wives  as  the  best  persons  in  the  world. 


156      Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes. 

I  remember  that  an  illiterate  farmer  once  said  to 
me,  "  Clingman,  every  man  thinks  that  his  wife  is 
the  best  woman  in  the  world,  but  I  know  mine  is." 
If  von  ladies  will  try  your  best  on  your  husbands, 
it  will  be  that  hereafter  when  I  go  up  to  the  sacra- 
ment table,  instead  of  my  seeing  six  ladies  and  one 
gentleman,  I  may  see  them  go  up  in  equal  numbers. 

But,  gentlemen,  we  will  consider  briefly  the  sub- 
ject of  the  world's  progress  in  certain  matters  during 
the  last  sixty  years. 

I  well  remember  President  Caldwell's  discussion 
of  the  then  new  subject  of  railroads.  If  I  had  said 
to  him,  "  In  the  new  State  of  Ohio,  I  will  travel  with 
more  than  one  thousand  persons  on  a  railroad  train 
at  a  rate  of  more  than  a  mile  a  minute,  and  more 
than  sixty  miles  an  hour,"  he  would  have  ex- 
pressed surprise;  but  if  I  had  said  to  him,  I  expect 
to  see  the  day  when  a  man  here  in  Chapel  Hill  can 
talk  to  another  in  New  York  as  fast  as  he  can  write 
with  a  pen  and  ink,  the  Doctor  would,  perhaps,  have 
said  to  me,  "  Young  man,  you  have  been  reading  the 
Arabian  Nights  lately."  I  might  have  gone  on  and 
said,  "Doctor,  I  believe  even  the  sound  of  a  man's 
voice  could  be  heard  that  far,"  and  he  would,  perhaps, 
have  said,  "  Sir,  if  you  go  on  talking  in  this  way,  peo- 
ple will  call  you  a  crank."  I  could  have  replied, 
"  Doctor,  your  use  of  the  word  crank  brings  another 


Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes.      157 

thing  to  my  mind.  I  believe  a  man  will  have  a 
machine  which  he  can  turn  with  a  crank,  and  if  you 
were  present  and  delivering  one  of  your  sermons, 
when  you  closed  he  would  stop  the  machine  with 
his  crank,  and  then,  after  twenty  years  had  been 
passed,  he  would  turn  his  machine  backward,  and 
your  sermon,  with  the  sound  of  your  voice,  would 
all  come  out."  The  Doctor  would,  perhaps,  have 
said,  "Young  man,  no  one  will  ever  beat  you  in  the 
expression  of  absurd  ideas."  And  yet  all  these 
things  can  be  done  with  the  telegraph,  telephone  and 
phonograph.  Even  if  a  dozen  years  ago  we  had 
been  told  in  Asheville  that  our  streets  were  so  steep 
that  street  cars  would  not  be  run  on  them  except  by 
electricity,  we  might,  perhaps,  have  said,  "  Then  our 
town  must  do  without  street  cars  " ;  and  yet  the  system 
of  street  cars  which  we  have  running  there  by  elec- 
tricity is  far  superior  to  any  cars  which  I  have  ever 
seen  in  New  York  or  any  other  city. 

But  now  let  us  consider  North  Carolina  for  a  few 
moments. 

Our  State  has  fifty -two  thousand  square  miles  of 
territory,  superior  as  a  whole  to  any  equal  amount 
of  contiguous  territory  in  any  part  of  the  globe. 
Everything  in  the  class  of  food  for  man  or  animal 
that  could  be  produced  in  any  one  of  the  old  thirteen 
States,  can  be  profitably  produced  in  some  part  of 


158      Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes. 

North  Carolina.  Our  South-eastern  section  furnishes 
abundantly  the  products  of  the  warmer  States,  while 
our  central  and  mountain  regions  give,  in  the 
greatest  abundance,  all  the  valuable  productions  of 
the  Central  and  Northern  States  of  our  Union.  I 
have  said  that  if  our  people  would,  for  a  few  }^ears, 
labor  as  industriously  and  live  as  economically  as 
they  did  during  the  war,  they  would  make  our  State 
the  richest  and  most  prosperous  in  the  world. 

We  have,  too,  an  immense  variety  of  minerals. 
Prof.  Charles  Upham  Shepard,  to  whom  long  ago  I 
used  to  send  thousands  of  specimens,  said  there  was 
a  greater  variety  of  minerals  in  a  circle  of  fifty  miles 
around  Asheville  than  in  any  area  of  the  same  size 
on  the  globe  that  he  knew  of.  I  will  refer  to  some 
of  them,  that  you  may  see  what  individual  exertion 
can  do.  I  will  give  some  cases.  More  than  forty 
years  ago  I  found  corundum  in  large  lumps,  in  what 
is  now  the  Madison  portion  of  old  Buncombe.  The 
pieces  were  so  large  and  so  handsome  that  even 
Prof.  Shepard,  to  whom  I  sent  some,  could  not  at 
first  believe  they  were  corundum,  but  I  had  no  diffi- 
culty in  convincing  him  of  the  truth  of  the  matter. 
I  sent  a  fine  specimen  to  London,  and  upon  it  can 
be  seen,  in  the  great  British  Museum,  my  name  and 
Buncombe  marked  on  it.  Yet  it  did  not,  for  a  long 
time,  come  into  use.     After,  the  war,  in  1867, 1  went 


Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes.      159 

up  to  the  Emery  mine,  at  Chester,  Mass.,  and  spent 
a  few  days  with  Dr.  Lucas,  the  manager,  and  he 
afterwards  came  to  the  Western  part  of  our  State, 
and  began  operations  on  the  first  corundum  mine 
that,  I  think,  has  been  operated  on  in  the  world,  and 
large  profits  are  being  realized  from  that  branch  of 
business  now.  Long  ago  other  interesting  minerals 
were  found  in  our  region,  and  Prof.  Shepard  spoke 
of  me  as  the  discoverer  of  the  diamond  and  platinum 
in  North  America. 

When  in  New  York,  some  twenty  years  ago,  Mr. 
Trippell  told  me  that  he  had  paid  eight  dollars  per 
pound  for  rather  inferior  mica.  I  thereupon  made 
an  arrangement  with  two  New  York  gentlemen, 
Sloan  &  Mendon,  who  agreed  to  work  every  mica 
mine  that  I  might  find.  I  began  my  observations 
in  Cleveland,  and  made  observations  from  there 
through  Rutherford,  Burke,  McDowell,  Yancey  and 
Mitchell.  I  believed  that  those  last  named  counties 
would  furnish  the  most  and  best.  In  fact,  I  had  sev- 
eral hundred  pounds  taken  out  at  the  Silvers  mine, 
in  Mitchell.  It  is  a  singular  fact,  which  may  be 
attributed  either  to  knowledge  or  good  luck,  that  I, 
after  an  examination  of  less  than  one  month,  selected 
what  have  since  been  proven  as  the  best  three  mines 
ever  worked,  being  the  Ray  mine  in  Yancey  county, 
and  the  Silvers  and  Buchanan  mines,  in  Mitchell 


160      Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes. 

county.  Sloan  &  Mendon,  however,  declined  to  go 
into  the  business,  but  others  took  it  up,  and,  at  one 
time,  it  was  reliably  stated  that  these  two  counties 
furnished  the  greater  part  of  the  mica  used  in  the 
world,  and  millions  have  been  realized  from  the 
operations  in  this  business. 

We  have  in  Western  North  Carolina  another  min- 
eral which  is  likely  to  be  of  much  value  —  the  zir- 
con. This  mineral  was  formerly  one  of  the  rarest 
known.  As  an  evidence  of  this  I  may  mention  a 
fact.  Fifty  years  ago.  in  the  spring  of  1839,  the  dis- 
tinguished botanist,  Prof.  Nuttall,  came  to  Asheville 
and  told  us,  Dr.  Hardy  and  myself,  that  he  had 
traveled  all  the  way  from  Philadelphia,  half  the 
way  in  a  stage,  to  see  the  place  in  the  southern  part 
of  Buncombe,  now  Henderson,  where  the  zircons 
were  found.  In  fact,  they  were  regarded  as  such 
rare  and  curious  minerals  that  large  prices  were  paid 
for  the  crystals.  Afterwards,  I  had  them  taken  out  on 
the  Freeman  place,  and  would  send  as  many  as  fifty 
pounds  to  Prof.  Shepard  at  Charleston.  When,  more 
than  twenty  years  ago,  electric  lights  began  to  be 
talked  of,  believing  they  could  be  advantageously 
used  for  that  purpose,  I  had  one  thousand  pounds 
taken  out  on  the  Freeman  place,  and  had  them  sent 
to  New  York  and  different  parts  of  Europe.  After 
about  twenty  years'  effort  in  this  matter,  at  last  there 


Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes.      161 

began  to  be  a  demand  for  them,  and  more  than  fifty 
thousand  pounds  have  been  taken  out  of  the  Free- 
man mine,  and  some  elsewhere.  It  now  looks  as 
though  the  debt  Buncombe  owes  to  the  world  can 
be  paid.  The  great  orators  of  the  world  have  been 
.  for  fifty  years  speaking  to  Buncombe  to  enlighten  it, 
and  now  we  can  pay  them  back  by  furnishing  the 
best  light  to  the  world. 

Another  subject  may  be  properly  referred  to.  No 
country  excels  North  Carolina  for  good  timber,  but 
in  the  upper  part  of  the  State  especially  fine  walnut 
and  other  good  timber  was  allowed  to  rot  in  the- 
fields  or^yas  rolled  into  heaps  and  burnt.  Believing 
it  could  be  put  to  valuable  use  with  profit  to  us,  I 
wrote  and  had  published  in  the  New  York  Sun,  more 
than  a  dozen  years  ago,  an  article  of  several  columns. 
in  which  I  described  the  quantity  and  qualities  of 
these  timbers.  The  publication  immediately  caused 
a  rush  of  speculators  to  this  region,  who  began  to 
purchase  the  right  to  the  growing  timber  on  the 
lands.  As  an  amusing  illustration  of  the  extent  to 
which  the  operation  was  carried,  I  will  mention  this 
incident.  After  the  rush  of  speculators  had  been 
going  on  several  months,  I  was  sitting  in  the  even- 
ing with  three  strangers  from  New  York.  One  of 
them  said:  "We  have  come  here  for  nothing:."' 
Another  replied,  iL  Yes,  we  have  been  deceived,  and 
11 


162     Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes. 

may  as  well  start  back."  I  said  to  them :  "  Gentle- 
men, will  you  tell  me  what  you  came  for?"  "  Why," 
they  answered,  "  we  came  here  to  buy  walnut  tim- 
ber." "  Well,"  said  I,  "and  do  you  not  find  plenty  of 
timber  here?"  "Yes,"  they  answered,  "but  it  is  all 
bought  up."  "Then,"  I  replied,  "your  case  is  like 
mine.  At  the  end  of  the  war,  being  in  want  of 
money,  I  read  there  was  a  great  deal  of  money  on 
Wall  Street,  in  the  city  of  New  York.  Thereupon, 
I  went  there  to  get  some.  On  arriving,  I  found  it 
was  true  that  there  was  a  great  deal  of  money  there, 
but  that  a  set  of  greedy  fellows  had  gotten  it,  and  I 
could  not  obtain  it  from  them.  So  I  was  as  unlucky 
as  you  have  been."  They  being  Wall  Streeters,  did 
not  enjoy  my  joke.  But  millions  of  dollars  have 
been  brought  into  our  State  for  the  timber  sold. 

I  am  a  believer  in  special  Providence.  If  Colum- 
bus had  landed  in  North  America,  our  country 
might  have  been  a  Mexico,  but  the  Anglo-Saxons 
have  made  the  United  States  the  first  country  on  the 
globe.  He  gave  America  the  Indian  corn  and  the 
potato  (miscalled  Irish)  to  feed  mankind,  and  the 
Tobacco  Remedy  to  cure  the  world.  When  men 
learn  how  to  use  the  last,  at  least  nine-tenths  of  the 
bodily  sufferings  of  humanity  will  disappear,  and 
human  life  be  greatly  prolonged.  Let  us,  then,  fel- 
low-countrymen  of  North    Carolina,  press  forward 


Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes.      163 

vigorously,  and  we  can  make  our  State  the  greatest 
in  the  world,  and  assist  in  giving  our  great  and 
glorious  Union  of  States  the  foremost  position  that 
humanity  can  have  on  the  earth. 

Mr.  T.  W.  Harriss  said : 

The  sons  of  North  Carolina  may  proudly  boast  of 
the  wisdom  and  patriotism  of  the  fathers.  The  first 
to  assert  their  independence  —  to  pledge  their  lives, 
their  fortunes  and  their  sacred  honor  in  defence  of 
civil  and  religious  liberty;  the  first  to  lead  in  the 
work  of-  education  —  to  establish  for  their  sons  a 
State  University.  And  it  is  matter  of  rejoicing,  and 
we  do  rejoice  to-day,  in  the  privileges  of  this  hour, 
a  privilege  that  comes  to  the  most  fortunate  but 
once  in  a  life-time — but  once  in  a  hundred  years. 

And  in  coming  up  to  this  grand  centennial  jubilee  of 
our  beloved  Alma  Mater — to  this  reunion  of  friends 
long  separated — I  am  instinctively  carried  back  to  the 
days  of  my  boyhood,  and  to  the  place  where  linger 
many  of  the  pleasantest  recollections  of  a  life-time, 
"and  to  which  is  often  cast  one  longing,  lingering 
look  behind."  But  in  calling  to  mind  the  roll  of 
that  class  to  which  I  had  the  honor  to  belong;  of 
that  band  of  brothers,  cemented  by  an  attachment 
not  unlike  that  felt  bv  a  Jonathan  for  a  David  —  for  I 


164     Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes. 

never  chance  to  meet  with  any  one  of  that  number 
that  I  do  not  always  feel  that  I  am  taking  the  warm 
hand  of  a  brother — in  calling  that  roll  to-day,  I 
cannot  repress  a  feeling  of  sadness  to  find  so  many 
absentees  at  this  our  last  reunion  here.  Here  are 
three,  but  where  are  the  twenty  missing  ones?  With, 
perhaps,  one  or  two  exceptions,  all  have  passed 
beyond  the  river. 

Brother  Clingman  and  brother  Smith,  have  you 
outlived  the  impressions  made  upon  your  boyhood 
minds,  when,  fifty-seven  years  ago,  you  and  I,  with 
brothers  Clingman  and  Parker  in  the  lead,  and  with 
the  lamented  missing  ones,  stood  together  here  at  the 
threshold  of  life?  Have  you  outlived  the  impres- 
sions made  by  the  warning  voice  (I  had  almost  said 
prophetic  words),  as  they  fell  burning  from  the  lips 
of  that  Gamaliel  of  Xorth  Carolina,  the  venerated 
Gaston,  when  giving  us  in  charge  the  duties  and 
responsibilities  soon  to  devolve  upon  us  in  reference 
to  the  future  of  our  country?  I  am  persuaded  you 
have  not  forgotten  them,  but  that  the  admonitions 
of  that  hour  are  as  fresh  and  unfading  upon  the 
tablet  of  memory  as  the  doings  of  yesterday  —  for  I 
very  well  remember  that  while  I  went  away  sorrow- 
ful, on  account  of  the  fears  then  expressed  for  the 
safety  of  my  country,  yet  I  went  out  into  the  world 
indulging  the  hope,  in  my  youthful  ardor,  that  too 


Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes.      165 

serious  a  picture  had  been  presented  of  the  prospects 
then  before  us.  But  you  and  I,  sirs,  have  lived  to 
see  the  gloomiest  forebodings  of  that  "  old  man  elo- 
quent" more  than  realized  in  the  history  of  our 
beloved  country. 

Our  troubles  came  upon  us,  but  not  without  pre- 
monition, for  the  voice  of  warning  had  been  heard 
as  far  back  as  the  days  of  the  Father  of  his  Country, 
when  he  bade  his  people  beware  of  sectional  jeal- 
ousies and  divisions  based  on  geographical  discrimi- 
nations. But  our  troubles  came,  despite  the  teach- 
ings of  the  Father.  And  while  I  remember  that,  by 
their  sudden  and  disruptive  changes,  you  and  I,  in 
common  with  thousands,  have  been  deprived  of 
much  of  the  little  for  which  our  fathers  toiled,  and 
that  bankruptcy  and  ruin  have  been  rife  in  the  land, 
yet,  it  is  not  my  purpose,  on  this  occasion,  to  disinter 
the  remains  of  dead  issues,  and  to  discuss,  offensively 
or  otherwise,  questions  settled  by  the  arbitrament  of 
the  sword ;  nor  do  I  come  bringing  up  these,  and 
recollections  such  as  these,  as  reasons  for  listening  to 
the  suggestions  of  despondency,  and  for  dreaming 
away  life  in  useless  complainings,  but  I  come  bring- 
ing up  these,  and  remembrances  such  as  these,  as 
incentives  to  renewed  effort  and  increased  diligence, 
commanding  us,  in  the  strength  of  our  manhood,  by 
all  the  recollections  of  the  past,  as  well  as  the  hopes 


160     Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes. 

of  the  future — by  the  obligations  imposed  by  love, 
interest,  philanthropy  and  religion — to  go  forward 
in  the  discharge  of  those  duties  that  we  owe  to  our- 
selves, to  our  children,  to  God  and  the  country.  To 
this  end  let  us  throw  wide  open  all  the  channels  of 
immigration,  and  extend  a  cordial  welcome  to  all 
right-minded  people  from  every  country,  and  from 
every  section  of  every  country,  with  their  capital, 
their  energy,  and  their  brain,  to  help  us  mend  up 
our  shattered  fortunes,  and  to  build  up  these  waste 
places,  and  to  this  end  "  let  by-gones  be  by-gones;" 
"  let  the  dead  bury  their  dead." 

Carried  back  to  the  days  before  the  introduction 
of  railroads,  when  the  sound  of  the  whistle  was  not 
heard  in  all  the  land — when  stage-coach  travel  was 
the  style  of  locomotion,  and  among  the  places  promi- 
nent en  route  from  Raleigh  to  Chapel  Hill,  the  little 
breakfast-house  at  Moring's  station  stood  master  of 
the  situation,  where  now  the  hand  of  progress,  I  trow, 
has  built  the  flourishing  city  of  Durham — carried 
back  to  the  days  when  the  construction  of  a  railroad, 
by  many,  was  looked  upon  as  a  hazardous  enterprise, 
costing  more  than  it  would  profit;  when  the  mas- 
terly and  persistent  efforts  in  this  direction  of  a  great 
and  good  man,  by  pen  and  tongue,  in  favor  of  the 
introduction  of  railroads  as  a  necessity  to  the  devel- 
opment of  our  8tate,  and  especially  so  to  Western 


Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes.      167 

North  Carolina,  on  the  part  of  that  prince  of  educa- 
tors, the  then  venerable  President  of  the  University 
of  North  Carolina,  struck  the  uninitiated  mind 
offensively,  awakened  ridicule,  and  were  spoken  of 
as  nothing  better  than  the  impracticable  hobby  of  a 
foolish  old  school-master.  And  I  have  thought  that 
if  our  venerable  preceptor  could  wake  up  from  the 
tomb  and  see  the  extensive  line  of  railroads,  now 
reaching  from  the  mountains  to  the  seaboard  (the 
very  line  mapped  out  by  himself  more  than  three- 
fourths  of  a  century  ago),  that  no  living  person  would 
enjoy  a  higher  sense  of  delight  at  the  changes 
wrought  in  his  adopted  State  than  would  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Joseph  Caldwell. 

Western  North  Carolina  should  build  for  him 
to-day  a  monument  as  high  as  her  once  inaccessible 
mountains  —  yes,  as  high  as  that  peak  where  sleeps 
his  bosom  friend  and  indefatigable  co-laborer,  and 
our  grand  old  instructor,  the  adventurous  and 
heroic  Dr.  Mitchell,  who  fell  in  his  ramblings  a  mar- 
tyr to  the  investigation  of  that  branch  of  science 
in  which  he  so  much  delighted,  leaving  to  us,  who 
knew  him  best  and  loved  him  most,  the  sad  privi- 
lege to  lament  his  fate  and  cherish  his  memory. 
Peace  to  his  ashes. 

Dick  Smith,  (I  mean  no  disrespect  to  the  brother, 
•  and  am  persuaded  that  this  audience  will  allow  the 


168     Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes. 

familiarity,  and  self-indulgence  on  my  part),  when  I 
tell  you  that  we  were  born  and  raised  in  the  same 
county,  and,  by  the  by,  that  the  historic  old  county 
of  Halifax,  and,  that  for  the  last  eight  and  a  half 
years  of  our  educational  life,  we  were  sent  by  our 
fathers,  who  were  bosom  friends  before  us,  to  the 
same  schools,  and  were  kept  in  the  same  classes;  and 
more  than  that,  if  there  were  ever  any  feelings  of 
unkindness  between  us.  expressed  in  word  or  deed, 
it  has  no  lodgment  upon  the  tablet  of  this  memory : 
and  more  than  that,  we  gave  our  hearts  to  God  at 
the  same  altar,  right  here  at  Chapel  Hill,  in  a  lit- 
tle prayer-meeting  in  the  house  of  Dr.  Caldwell ;  and. 
if  allowed,  more  than  that,  (while  unlike  brother 
Smith  and  brother  Clingman.  I  have  lived  but  a 
laggard  in  usefulness  to  my  country  and  my  kind), 
I  do  indulge  the  hope  that  through  the  merits  of  the 
Crucified  One,  we  may  again  stand  together  in  the 
same  class  without  an  absentee,  in  a  grand  reunion 
above,  reckoned  among  the  number  of  glorified 
immortals.  As  an  earnest  of  this  prayer,  allow  me 
in  this  presence,  to  extend  to  you  both  the  hand  of 
a  brother. 

Mr.  R.  H.  Smith  said: 

I  do  not  rise  to  detain  you  long,  but  simply  to 
acknowledge  the  greeting  you  have  extended  to  me. 


Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes.      169 

Fifty-seven  years  ago  there  was  graduated  from 
this  University  a  class  of  twenty-three  students.  Of 
these,  so  far  as  I  am  informed,  four  are  alive  — 
Thomas  Clingman,  Thomas  Harriss  and  myself  are 
here.  Col.  Cad.  Jones  is  absent.  Nineteen  have 
passed  through  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death  to 
that  bourne  from  whence  no  traveler  has  returned. 
Many  of  them  have  been  distinguished  in  the  various 
vocations  of  life.  Not  one  has  disgraced  his  State 
or  Alma  Mater.  All  honor  to  their  memory.  Again 
returning  thanks  for  the  cordial  reception  you  have 
given  me,  I  give  way  to  the  class  that  follows. 

The 
Class  of  /Sj6 

Was  represented  by  Dr.  W.  L.  Stamps,  who  said: 

Fifty-three  years  ago,  to-day,  the  class  of  1830 
graduated  —  the  first  to  receive  their  diplomas  in 
Gerrard  Hall.  It  was  a  small  class  in  numbers. 
Some  have  distinguished  themselves  in  the  legal  pro- 
fession, attaining  the  highest  post  in  that  line  in  the 
State.  Others  have  sat  and  watched  by  the  bed-side 
of  the  sick  and  suffering,  while  others  have  sought 
the  more  quiet  lives  of  farmers.  All,  as  far  as  I 
know,  have  lived  honorable  lives,  and  have  been 
good  and  patriotic  citizens. 


170     Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes. 

Although  we  all  must  be  more  than  seventy,  yet, 
as  far  as  is  known  by  me,  nearly  half  are  alive 
to-day,  and,  like  Caleb,  may  say  that  we  are  almost 
as  strong  to-day  as  then.  As  our  strength  then  was, 
so  it  is  almost  to-day.  But  when  I  look  around  me, 
like  Elisha,  I  feel  days  should  speak  and  multitude 
of  years  should  teach  wisdom. 

The 

Class  of  jSjo 

Was  represented  by  Hon.  W.  M.  Shipp  and  Col. 
William  Johnston. 

Colonel  Johnston  said : 

Would  that  the  duty  assigned  to  me  belonged  to 
another.  The  class  of  1840  numbered,  in  its  first 
year,  forty  students,  of  whom  thirty-two  graduated. 
There  were  six  or  eight  of  its  members  well  matured, 
ranging  from  twenty-five  to  forty  years  of  age.  Its 
increased  number  was  owing  to  the  great  popularity 
of  Governor  Swain,  who  was  elected  President  of  the 
University  the  year  before  its  matriculation.  It  was 
distinguished  for  its  morality,  industry  and  high 
scholarship.  In  these  virtues,  I  do  not  think  it  was 
surpassed  -by  any  class  that  has  preceded  or  followed 
it.      Its   good    deportment   and   great    attainments 


Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes.      171 

induced  an  able  and  just  Faculty  to  assign  honorary 
distinction  to  more  than  one-third  of  its  graduates. 
Of  its  prominent  members,  time  will  permit  me  to 
refer  only  to  a  few.  There  was  Isham  W.  Garrott,  a 
profound  scholar;  studied  law,  settled  in  Selma, 
Alabama;  soon  became  eminent  in  his  profession; 
raised  a  regiment  in  the  inter-state  war,  and  fell  at 
Vicksburg  gallantly  leading  the  fight.  Then  there 
were  the  two  Shipps,  afterwards  Rev.  Dr.  A.  M. 
and  William  M.  —  the  former  a  great  educator  at 
Greensboro,  Wofford,  and  Vanderbilt  University  — 
the  latter  one  of  the  ablest  Judges  in  our  State  now 
on  the  bench.  They  were  worthy  representatives  of 
old  Lincoln  county,  which  sent  to  the  same  class 
Charles  C.  Graham  and  your  speaker.  There  was 
also  the  profound  scholar  and  accomplished  gentle- 
man, Thomas  H.  Spruill.  His  career  in  after-life 
was  brilliant  but  brief.  Then  came  John  A.  Lilling- 
ton,  with  a  quick  and  penetrating  intellect,  a  ripe 
scholar,  of  fine  literary  taste  and  culture,  full  of  attic 
wit  and  social  life;  studied  law,  was  eminent  as  a 
jurist,  but  in  early  life  passed  from  earth. 

The  profound  scholar  and  conversationalist,  Wil- 
liam Henderson, of  Tennessee;  Tod  R.  Caldwell,  Gov- 
ernor of  the  State;  Calvin  H.  Wiley,  the  able  School 
Commissioner  of  the  State;  Francis  H.  Hawks,  John 
W.  Cameron,  Judge  David  A.  Barnes,  Rev.  Walter 


172      Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes. 

W.  Pharr,  William  Thompson,  now  of  Mississippi; 
JonnW.  Cunningham,  and  many  others  whom  I  can- 
not now  mention,  filled  with  distinction  the  varied 
learned  professions,  public  offices  and  private  sta- 
tions to  which  their  taste  or  popularity  invited  them. 

All  but  five  or  six  of  the  class  are  gone  forever. 
But  their  bright  and  genial  spirits  come  back  to  us 
often,  as  if  to  invite  the  remaining  few  to  join  them 
on  the  other  side  of  the  river. 

This  University  did  a  noble  work  when  it  equipped 
the  class  of  1840  and  sent  it  forth  to  the  country. 
Its  members  became  identified  with  nearly  all  of  the 
great  interests  of  the  South,  and,  almost  without 
exception,  they  individually  acted  their  part  nobly 
and  did  their  duty  to  their  country  and  their  God. 

The 
Class  of  1S41 

Was  represented  by  Stephen  Graham,  Esq. 

The 

Class  of  1S+2 

Was  represented  by  Gen.  R.  Barringer  and  Dr.  W. 
W.  Harriss. 


Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes.      173 
General  Barringer  said : 

I  thank  Mr.  Graham,  of  Duplin,  of  the  class  of 
'37 -'41,  for  a  short  addition  to  my  limited  time. 
But  I  am  surprised  to  see  only  one  of  that  large  and 
famous  class  here  to-day.  It  was  the  "  big- wild-class  " 
of  our  day,  led  by  Frank  Blair  and  John  Eastin. 
My  class,  that  of  '38- '42,  was  a  small  and  unpreten- 
tious class,  matriculating  only  thirty-four  and  gradu- 
ating only  thirty.  But  we  matched  the  "Wild 
Sophs."  with  "  Trip  "  Garland  and  John  Manly.  My 
friend,  Dr.  Harriss,  of  Wilmington,  and  myself  are 
the  only  two  present.  He  was  the  smallest  of  the 
class,  and  I  unquestionably  the  ugliest. 

So,  between  the  regular  "hazing"  of  the  day,  and 
the  special  tricks  of  the  "  Wild  Sophs.,"  we  had  a 
tough  time.  He  was  nick-named  "Nig"  and  I 
"  Motz,"  after  old  John  Motz,  of  Lincoln.  Bill  Shipp 
here  (now  a  Judge)  said  I  walked  like  old  Motz.  I 
was  all  Dutch — lame  in  one  of  my  short  legs,  poorly 
prepared  and  very  small  every  way.  But  "  Nig  "  and 
"Motz"  are  here  to-day — stand  up  "Nig"  and  show 
yourself  (Dr.  Harriss  promptly  rising).  We'll  do; 
won't  we,  Mr.  President?     Speak  out,  "Gum." 

The  Doctor  and  I  have  both  had  some  success  in 
life — all,  too,  the  result  of  honest,  hard  work,  pluck 
and    persistence,   showing   the   advantage   of    will- 


174     Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes. 

power  over  mere  intellect  or  culture.  Neither  of  us 
was  a  regular  "Mite"  man.  Oddly  enough,  my 
main  success  was  in  marrying  three  handsome 
women. 

I  am  glad  the  day  of  "  hazing "  is  past.  It  was 
the  source  of  some  cruel  wrongs.  But  the  great 
feature  of  our  college  life  was  the  organization  of  the 
"secret  fraternities."  By  a  little  incident  (the  pla- 
carding of  some  doggerel  verses),  I  became,  to  some 
extent,  the  head  of  the  opposition  to  this  new  move- 
ment, especially  in  my  own  society  (the  Di).*  I  was 
a  great  admirer  of  the  regular  college  associations, 
and  I  was  put  forward  as  a  Representative  (as  also  a 
Senior  speaker).  The  fight  was  a  pretty  hard  one, 
but  I  can  now  look  back  on  the  warm  and  generous 
rivalries  of  those  days  as  a  source  of  real  benefit  to 
me  all  through  a  long,  active  and  varied  life.  There 
is  nothing  like  self-reliance,  honest  conviction,  and 
the  early  struggle  of  mind  with  mind.  Without 
this  wTe  never  know  ourselves.     I  soon  came  to  know, 


*The  verses  referred  to,  and  which  so  stirred  up  some  of  I  lie  Fresh, 
of '38,  ran  lhus: 

"  The  Fresh,  who  took  down  the  former  card, 
For  good  manners  had  better  have  regard; 
The  chap  that  would  do  so  mean  a  trick, 
From  her  roost  would  pull  a  hen  as  quick. 
Hark  !  ye  fellows,  mind  what  you're  about, 
And  to  another  market  haul  your  crout." 

November  ~>,  1838.  D.  D.  V. 


Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes.      175 

too,  that  there  was  far  less  harm  than  I  supposed  in 
the  "fraternities."  To  my  relief  and  surprise,  I 
found  in  them  several  of  my  warmest  friends.  But 
the  struggle  fixed  the  faith  and  practice  of  my  life : 
ever  open  to  the  new,  but  clinging  unswervingly  to 
the  old  —  the  church,  the  State,  and  the  home  —  as 
the  only  divine  institutions  for  reforming  and  saving 
the  world. 

Pardon,  Mr.  President,  another  personal  allusion — 
small  in  itself,  but  interesting  to  the  young.  Both 
my  home  and  scholastic  training,  especially  my 
society  duties  here,  made  me  somewhat  methodical 
in  my  habits.  I  grew  fond  of  recalling  and  review- 
ing the  past,  I  kept  no  regular  diary,  usually  so 
dull,  but  at  occasional  periods,  and  in  important 
events,  I  would  note  down  facts  and  feelings.  I  hold 
here  (showing  an  old  outside  leaf  of  a  copy-book)  the 
last  page  of  a  college  journal  taken  down  at  the  time, 
the  day  of  my  class  graduation,  June  2d,  1842, 
forty-seven  years  ago! 

I  detain  you  with  no  details ;  in  fact,  possibly  some 
things  had  better  have  been  unsaid.  But,  to  me,  it  is 
now  a  treasure  no  money  could  buy.  It  is,  withal, 
both  a  picture  and  a  prophecy  of  the  class  of  '42. 
From  it,  I  can  faithfully  recall  the  thoughts  and 
feelings,  the  hopes  and  fears,  of  that  eventful  day. 
And  with  it,  I   will   gladly  make  out   a  memorial 


176     Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes. 

record  of  my  beloved  class-mates,  and  of  the  Chapel 
Hill  of  1842. 

Of  course,  too,  I  found  myself  a  "  Senior  in  love," 
and  the  ardor  of  youth  is  to-day  again  upon  me.  I 
feel  ten  years  younger  because  of  the  memories  of 
this  dear  old  journal,  and  the  delightful  reminis- 
cences of  this  joyous  occasion.  And  with  my  whole 
heart  I  thank  you,  Mr.  President,  and  the  several 
authorities  of  the  college,  to  whom  the  credit  is  due, 
for  the  great  enjoyment  we  are  having. 

The 

Class  of  184s 

Was  represented  by  Hon.  R.  P.  Dick,  R,  H.  Jones, 
Esq.,  and  Dr.  John  L.  Williamson. 
Judge  Dick  spoke  as  follows : 

I  appear  in  obedience  to  your  call,  not  as  a  speech- 
maker,  but  as  a  witness. 

If  I  fail  to  observe  my  first  announcement,  you 
may  well  doubt  my  testimony.  I  am  confident  that 
my  statements  will  be  sustained  by  my  friend  and 
class-mate,  Dr.  John  L.  Williamson,  who  is  now  by 
my  side,  after  a  separation  of  many  years. 

The  class  of  1843  was  an  average  one  for  good 
conduct,  scholarship  and  ability.     There  was  not  a 


Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes.      Ill 

single  member  who  could  be  properly  styled  a  genius. 
There  were  many  men  of  intellect,  who,  by  patient 
labor  and  persistent  efforts,  became  fair  scholars,  and 
attained  a  reasonable  measure  of  success  and  reputa- 
tion in  after-life. 

There  was  not  a  mean-spirited  boy  among  my 
class-mates.  They  were  genial,  kind-hearted  and 
true  gentlemen ;  and  allot'  them  had  the  qualities 
and  capabilities  which,  with  proper  culture  and  exer- 
tion, would  have  enabled  them  to  become  good  and 
valuable  citizens.  I  regret  to  say  that  some  failed 
to  avail  themselves  of  their  opportunities  and  advan- 
tages, and  a  few  were  misled  by  temptation  into 
irregular  habits  that  diminished  or  destroyed  their 
usefulness. 

They  were  widely  scattered  throughout  the  coun- 
try, and  a  large  majority  are  dead.  I  cherish  their 
memories,  and  I  deeply  sympathized  in  their  disap- 
pointments, sorrows  and  misfortunes.  I  am  sure 
that  the  living  have  a  warm  attachment  and  venera- 
tion for  their  Alma  Mater ;  they  earnestly  desire  her 
continued  prosperity,  and  they  will  always  readily 
rally  to  her  support  and  defence — if  assailed  by 
prejudice,  injustice  or  misfortune. 


12 


178     Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes. 

The 
Class  of  i8## 

Was  represented  by  Hon.  W.  L.  Steele,  James  H. 
Horner,  Esq.,  and  A.  G.  Jones,  Esq. 
Colonel  Steele  said : 

On  the  Gth  of  June,  1844,  forty-three  young  men, 
"with  hope  elate.''  pushed  their  barks  from  the  shore 
and  began  the  voyage  of  life.  Of  these,  but  ten  are 
upon  the  water  —  "rari  nantes  in  gurgite  vasto"  — 
the  others  having  gone  down  in  the  storms  which 
beset  them.  Although  but  few  ever  reached  much 
earthly  distinction,  I  trust  that  all  have  "scattered 
some  bread  upon  the  waters,''  which  has  been  "gath- 
ered," or  will  be  "gathered  "'  in  due  season,  for  the 
benefit  of  the  human  race.  They  who  remain,  and 
they  who  have  gone,  ever  had  in  high  esteem  the 
institution  of  learning  at  which  they  were  fitted  for 
the  duties  which  they  were  called  upon  to  perform. 

Upon  this  class  has  fallen  an  honor  never  before 
held,  and  which  cannot  be  held  again  until  a  century 
has  passed.  One  of  its  humblest  members  is  the 
President  of  the  Alumni  Association,  under  whose 
auspices  this  celebration  is  held,  and  is  the  master 
of  ceremonies  at  this  interesting  and  unusual  occa- 
sion.    In  the  name  of  the  class,  I  greet  this  large 


Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes.      179 

assemblage,  and  invoke  not  only  those  who  are  pres- 
ent, but  all  the  people  of  the  State,  to  maintain  and 
support  the  University,  as  one  of  the  great  factors  in 
the  moral  and  intellectual  development  of  this  age 
and  the  ages  yet  to  come. 

The 
Class  of  1845 

Was  represented  by  Hon.  Joseph  B.  Batchelor  and 
Dr.  L.  C.  Taylor. 
The 

Class  of  /Sj6 

Was  represented  by  Col.  William  A.  Faison  and 
Dr.  William  B.  Meares. 

The  regular  call  of  the  roll  of  classes  was  here 
suspended  in  order  to  give  place  for  the  special  exer- 
cises of  the  class  of  1879,  the  first  to  graduate  after 
a  four  years'  course  under  the  new  regime,  and  of  the 
class  of  1868,  the  last  to  graduate  under  Governor 
Swain's  administration.  For  the  exercises  of  these 
classes  see  the  preceding  pages.  At  the  conclusion 
of  these  special  class  exercises,  the  Association 
adjourned  to  celebrate  the  centennial  banquet  in 
Gerrard  Hall.  An  account  of  the  banquet  has 
already  been  given. 


180     Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes. 

At  about  8  o'clock,  p.  in.  the  Association  re-assem- 
bled in  Memorial  Hall,  with  President  Steele  in  the 
chair,  and  the  roll-call  of  classes  was  continued. 

The 

Class  of  iS^j 

Was  represented  by  Rev.  Thomas  E.  Skinner,  D.  D., 
Dr.  R.  H.  Winborne,  and  Thomas  Webb,  Esq. 
Dr.  Skinner  spoke  as  follows: 

You  have  noticed  that  the  class  of  '47  was  called 
out  of  the  regular  order.  After  the  class  of  '46, 
then  that  of  79  and  '68  were  called,  and  then  came 
'47.  The  reason  for  this,  it  is  supposed,  is  the  con- 
trast which  necessarily  would  have  followed,  in  as 
much  as  the  class  of  '47  is  the  most  distinguished 
that  ever  graduated  at  the  University. 

There  are  only  three  members  of  '47  present,  out 
of  the  thirty-seven  graduates  —  Webb,  Winborne 
and  Skinner.  The  first,  on  account  of  severe  afflic- 
tion, is  unable  to  speak.  The  second  has  spent  his 
valuable  life  as  a  physician,  and  declines  to  talk,  and 
the  third,  as  has  been  his  custom  for  nearly  forty 
years,  is  compelled  once  more  to  follow  the  doctors. 

We  have  looked  anxiously  for  a  Ransom,  but  none 
can  be  found.  How  glad  we  are  that  it  was  his  arm, 
and  not  his  neck,  that  is  broken. 


Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes.      181 

It  is  mainly  to  Ransom  and  the  lamented  Petti- 
grew  that  the  class  of  '47  is  indebted  for  the  great 
distinction  to  which  it  attained.  Alston,  Haywood 
(Dr.  E.  B.),  Hines,  Kindred,  Levy,  Manly,  Mebane, 
Pool,  Sharp  and  Shober,  with  others,  shared  the  under 
degrees.  The  names  of  some  of  these,  with  Pettigrew, 
Benbury  and  Sharp,  are  enrolled  on  yonder  tablets  of 
the  Confederate  heroes  who  gave  their  lives  for  the 
"  lost  cause." 

Pettigrew's  surpassing  excellence  in  scholarship 
and  universal  lore,  together  with  Ransom's  pluck 
and  victory  in  peace  and  in  war,  is  the  true  secret  of 
our  unparalleled  celebrity  as  a  class. 

Ransom  is  in  his  fourth  term  in  the  United  States 
Senate,  and  to  this  nothing  needs  to  be  added.  He 
fought  bravely  his  way  up  to  the  high  distinction  of 
Major-Generalin  the  Confederate  army. 

North  Carolina  has  honored  him  as  she  has  no 
other  citizen,  and  may  Ransom  live  long  to  serve 
the  noble  old  Commonwealth,  and  to  be  honored  by 
her. 

What  shall  we  say  of  the  lamented  Pettigrew  — 
that  amazing  genius  and  expert  in  everything  he 
undertook  ? 

I  was  wiih  him  at  the  elder  Bingham's  in  Hills- 
boro  for  three  years,  and  at  college  we  were  intimate 
friends.    At  Bingham's  I  never  knew  him  to  be  awav 


1S2     Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes. 

from  the  head  of  the  class,  save  from  sickness,  and 
then,  taking  the  foot,  he  would  soon  recover  his 
accustomed  and  merited  place — the  head  of  the 
class. 

So,  you  see,  we  had  trip,  head  and  foot  in  those 
days.  And,  more,  we  had  ferule  and  hickory,  well- 
seasoned  and  tough,  but  never  did  these  fall  upon 
the  person  of  this  unequaled  child  of  genius  and 
wonder. 

The  rest  of  us  had  to  stand  up  and  take  it. 

Pettigrew's  distinction  among  his  fellow-students 
arose,  perhaps,  more  from  his  superiority  in  mathe- 
matics; though  he  was,  in  fact,  fully  as  proficient  in 
every  department.  Our  class  was  the  first  to  use 
Peirce's  Course  of  Mathematics — the  most  intricate 
and  abridged  of  all  others.  Some  of  us  never  saw 
day-light  after  the  proposition  to  '"construct  the  line 
A  B,"  which  we  could  only  do  as  our  friend  Tom 
Polk,  now  Dr.  Polk,  of  Mississippi,  who,  when  required 
to  find  the  center  of  a  circle,  drew  an  imaginary  one, 
and  stepping  back  advanced,  with  the  chalk  in  front, 
and  striking  the  bull's  eye,  exclaimed,  "About  there, 
sir;  I  should  say." 

While  our  class  were  struggling  through  Peirce's 
Differential  Calculus,  Mr.  Pettigrew  wrote  out,  in 
extenso,  an  integral  calculus,  after  Mr.  Peirce's  plan 


Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes.      188 

of  his  Differential,  the  author  having  not  yet  pub- 
lished his  Integral  Calculus. 

The  renowned  and  venerable  Professor,  Dr.  James 
Phillips,  hearing  of  this  wonderful  feat  of  his  youth- 
ful pupil,  James  Johnston  Pettigrew,  called  at  my 
room  on  an  evening  after  tea  and  inquired  if  it  was 
true.  I  told  him  it  was,  and  that  I  had  seen  the 
manuscript.  He  begged  that  I  would  go  immedi- 
ately to  Mr.  Pettigrew's  room  (N.  W.  corner,  second 
story,  old  South),  and,  if  possible,  secure  the  loan  of 
the  manuscript  for  him. 

Leaving  the  Professor  in  charge  of  my  room-mate 
(the  handsome  Joseph  Benjamin,  brother  of  the  dis- 
tinguished late  Judah  P.  Benjamin),  he  entertained 
him  with  a  pipe  well  charged  with  oak  leaves,  dried 
and  prepared  very  like  tobacco,  which  was  said  to 
have  been  procured  from  a  celebrated  Petersburg  firm. 
So  delightful  was  the  aroma  which  the  smoke  of  this 
dried  garment  of  the  forest  absorbed  in  passing 
through  the  mahogany-colored  stem,  that  the  Pro- 
fessor declared  that  he  never  before  had  smoked  SO' 
mild  and  pleasant  a  weed.  Before  retiring  with 
Pettigrew's  manuscript,  I  completed  the  Professor's 
ecstatic  joy  by  wrapping  up  a  small  parcel  of  the 
celebrated  Petersburg  tobacco,  placing  at  the  bottom 
a  few  of  the  large  oak  leaves,  in  an  unmanufactured 
state. 


184     Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes. 

I  heard  that  on  the  Professor's  reaching  home,  he 
told  his  son  Charles  (the  late  and  distinguished 
emeritus  Professor  of  Mathematics),  that  there  was  a 
fine  sample  of  Petersburg  tobacco,  handed  him  by 
Mr.  Skinner.  Upon  examination,  it  was  revealed 
that  it  was  nothing  but  "  oak  leaves."  This  rumor 
was  doubtless  correct,  as  my  room-mate  and  I  were 
surprised  by  being  called  out  of  time  next  morn- 
ing, at  the  recitation  before  breakfast  (think  of  that, 
young  gentlemen),  and  he  "rushed"  us  for  sixty 
minutes  with  seemingly  exquisite  satisfaction. 

How  dear  to  us  is  the  memory  of  this  venerated 
man  and  his  no  less  distinguished  son,  and  his 
daughter,  Mrs.  Cornelia  P.  Spencer,  the  brightest 
illustration  in  the  galaxy  of  North  Carolina's  distin- 
guished women — a  woman  who  could  teach  a  nation. 

I  said  that  Pettigrew  was  an  expert  in  all  that  he 
attempted.  This  is  true,  even  in  athletic  sports. 
He  entered  college  at  the  age  of  thirteen,  and,  con- 
sequently, was  only  seventeen  when  he  received  his 
diploma.  He  was  prepared  for  the  Freshman  class 
at  eleven  years  of  age,  but  was  kept  back  by  Mr.  Bing- 
ham; and  at  the  age  of  thirty  he  finished  his  work, 
by  yielding  his  sublime  career  as  a  sacrifice  on  the 
altar  of  his  country's  honor  and  glory. 

I  was  seven  }rears  at  school  with  him,  knew  him 
well,  and  loved  his  shadow  even.     He  was  as  simple 


Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes.      185 

as  a  child,  as  pure  as  a  girl  and  as  sublime  as  a  hero, 
and  a  statesman.  Mr.  Bingham  told  me  that  he 
reproved  him  once  and  that  he  could  not  sleep  that 
night.  What  an  illustration  of  the  loss  of  the 
South  in  the  dreadful  fratricidal  conflict  which  must 
have  occurred!  How  could  a  class  with  two  such 
men  as  Ransom  and  Pettigrew  fail  to  be  distin- 
guished above  all  others? 

But  please  be  tolerant  with  the  other  thirty-five 
of  us.     We  were  no  small  men. 

Here  is  my  friend  Tom  Webb,  whom  we  knew 
only  as  Trust  Webb,  because  he  was  so  trustworthy. 
In  this  day  of  Trusts,  is  not  that  a  distinction?  He 
was  once  the  President  of  the  Western  North  Caro- 
lina Railroad;  and  if  the  hand  of  Providence  did 
not  lie  heavily  upon  him,  he  would  be  the  man  talk- 
ing to  you  now,  and  not  I. 

And  here  is  my  friend  Bob  Winborne,  a  distin- 
guished physician  of  North  Carolina,  who  ought  to 
have  been  the  preacher  of  the  class.  But  God's  ways 
are  not  our  ways,  that  the  glory  may  not  be  to  man, 
but  to  God,  to  whom  all  glory  belongs. 

How  can  I  better  end  this  tirade  than  by  telling 
you  some  funny  things  on  my  speechless  brother, 
Tom  Webb? 

Bingham  was  not  only  an  able,  but  also  a  sympa- 
thetic and  genial  teacher.   Indeed,  the  father  stood  out 


18(3     Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes. 

clearly,  and  in  bold  relief,  in  all  the  manipulations 
of  his  classes.  And  this,  and  more,  may  be  said  of 
his  distinguished  sons ;  of  the  two,  only  Major  Robert 
now  remaining  with  us. 

I  must  be  pardoned  for  speaking  so  plainly  and 
personally  as  I  have  done,  because  I  know  that  but 
for  the  elder  William  J.  Bingham  I  would  have  been 
nothing,  and  less  than  nothing,  notwithstanding  my 
youthful  resolve  that  if  ever  I  became  a  man  I  would 
thrash  him  or  die,  not  knowing  what  I  said.  He 
certainly  taught  the  "  idea  how  to  shoot,"  and  that 
is  true  teaching  in  this  and  all  ages  to  come. 

Well,  I  will  conclude  with  two  little  reminiscences, 
which  my  friend  Trust  Webb  will  corroborate  and 
enjoy.  It  was  the  custom  of  the  elder  Bingham,  when 
any  difficult  passage  occurred  in  the  next  lesson,  to 
explain  it  to  the  class,  with  the  distinct  understand- 
ing that  a  miss  on  that  point  was  grave,  and  involved 
((Jew  in  the  hand  with  the  leather  ferule  —  so  like 
the  latter  end  of  a  horse-trace.  In  Caesar's  Commen- 
taries the  phrase  "fadus  certior  "  occurs  frequently. 
"Now,"  said  Mr.  Bingham,  "boys,  remember  to 
translate  'fact us  certior,'  —  'was  informed,'  and  not 
'made  more  certain.'  Do  you  hear?"  "All  right." 
Next  day  dear  old  "  Trust"  came  up  to  the  front,  and 
in  the  lines  occurred  the  words  "fact its  certior. " 
Trust  read:    "Then  Caesar  being  made  more  cer- 


Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes.      187 

tain — "  "What?"  cried  Bingham,  "come  up  here, 
sir."  Up  came  Trust.  "Put  out  your  hand,  sir." 
Slam !  went  the  leather ;  up  went  Trust's  foot.  Bang ! 
goes  the  ferule;  up  again  goes  Trust's  foot.  He 
returns  to  his  seat,  not  with  his  hands  in  his  pocket, 
because  they  feel  larger  than  a  hundred  pockets. 

On  another  occasion,  Trust  was  translating  in 
Latin  very  nicely,  and  coming  to  the  proper  noun, 
Andromache,  he  made  a  slip,  thoughtlessly,  and 
called  it  Andrew  Mickle,  which  was  the  name  of  a 
distinguished  citizen,  then  of  Hillsboro,  and  after- 
wards of  Chapel  Hill,  and  the  Bursar  of  the  col- 
lege, I  think.  I  never  saw  "  Old  Bill "  (as  the  boys 
called  our  now  venerated  teacher)  so  full  of  laugh  as 
he  was  then.  It  was  so  funny  that  Mr.  Bingham, 
roaring  with  laughter,  said :  "  You  rascal ;  I  can't  whip 
you  for  that  mistake."     But,  I  have  talked  too  long. 

Grateful,  indeed,  do  I  feel  that  I  have  been  per- 
mitted to  be  present  at  this  Centennial  Commence- 
ment of  the  University  of  North  Carolina.  Long- 
may  she  live  and  be  blessed,  and  a  blessing  more 
and  more,  is  the  prayer  of  the  class  of  1847. 

The 

Class  of  184.8 

Was  represented  by  Captain  N.  A.  Ramsey,  who 
said : 


188      Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes. 

I  had  hoped  that  this  duty  would  have  fallen  upon 
another,  but  as  I  am  the  only  representative  of  my 
class  present  on  this  most  interesting  occasion,  I 
cheerfully  accept  the  situation,  and  speak  a  few  words 
for  them  as  best  I  can. 

The  class  of  '48  was  a  fair  average  one,  composed 
of  twenty-nine  members.  As  far  as  I  have  been 
able  to  ascertain,  there  are  only  ten  living — nine- 
teen having  passed  over  the  river  and  "  are  now 
resting  under  the  shade  of  the  trees." 

They  were,  as  a  rule,  both  living  and  dead,  as 
noble  a  set  of  fellows  as  ever  breathed  the  breath  of 
life. 

I  have  not  time  nor  inclination,  here,  to  speak  of 
the  dead,  save  one  —  Willie  Person  Mangum,  Jr., 
who  died  in  the  North  of  China  in  February,  1881, 
and  his  remains  now  rest  in  the  Congressional  Ceme- 
tery at  Washington.  A  most  interesting  sketch  of 
his  life  has  been  prepared  at  my  request  by  his 
widow,  now  a  resident  at  Washington  City,  which 
will  be  published  in  the  University  Magazine. 

Of  ten  living,  I  will  here  mention  only  two,  dis- 
tinguished for  the  high  and  honorable  positions  they 
hold. 

Oliver  Pendleton  Meares  now  presides,  with  credit 
to  himself  and  honor  to  the  State,  as  Judge  of  the 
Criminal  Court  of  New  Hanover  and  Mecklenburg 


Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes.      189 

counties,  and  Victor  Clay  Barringer,  with  equal 
honor  and  dignity,  presides  as  Judge  of  Appeals  at 
the  Consular  Court  of  Alexandria,  Egypt,  having 
filled  this  position  continuously  since  1874,  and  I 
am  glad  to  state  that  he  is  receiving  a  salary  of 
$10,000  per  annum. 

I  have  been  endeavoring  to  prepare  a  brief  history 
of  my  class,  both-  living  and  dead,  and  hoped  to 
have  it  ready  for  this  occasion,  but  I  could  not  do 
so.  I  have  the  data  of  twenty-four,  and  hope  soon 
to  have  some  of  the  remaining  five.  When  com- 
pleted, it  will  afford  me  very  great  pleasure  to  fur- 
nish a  copy  to  be  filed  in  the  archives  of  the  Univer- 
sity.    God  bless  you  all,  and  good-bye. 

The 

Class  of  i8+g 

Was  represented  by  Hon.  Kemp  P.  Battle,  Dr.  P. 
E.  Hines,  W.  E.  Hill,  Esq.,  and  Dr.  Bryan  Whitfield. 
Mr.  Hill  said : 

Some  persons  contend  that  we  are  saved  by  faith, 
others  by  works;  but  I  like  to  show  my  faith  by  my 
works,  so  I  have  manifested  my  love  and  loyalty  to 
the  University  by  sending  four  sons  to  be  educated 
within  its  classic  walls.     If  a  majority  of  the  Alumni 


190     Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes. 

would  send  as  many  students  to  Chapel  Hill  as  I 
have  sent,  the  University  would  nourish  and  rank 
among  the  first  institutions  of  the  world. 

The  class  of  1849  was  quite  a  large  class,  and  con- 
tained some  good  students.  Many  of  them  attained 
considerable  eminence  in  after-life.  Peter  Hale,  who 
sat  near  me  during  recitation  hours,  was  an  editor  of 
marked  ability.  He  published  some  political  and 
literary  works  which  exhibited  very  great  research. 
T.  J.  Robinson,  who  stood  well  in  the  class,  was  a 
civil  engineer  of  ability  after  he  left  college. 

Dr.  Haigh,  of  Fayetteville,  and  Dr.  Peter  Hines, 
of  Raleigh,  who  also  sat  near  me  in  the  class,  have 
been  eminent  in  the  medical  profession. 

There  were  three  Whitfields  in  our  class,  who  were 
good  students.  Two  of  them  were  killed  fighting 
for  the  liberties  of  their  country,  and  the  other,  Dr. 
Bryan  Whitfield,  of  Alabama,  has  been  a  successful 
doctor  and  planter. 

Among  the  different  classes  represented  at  this 
Centennial  Commencement,  our  class,  I  believe,  is 
the  only  one  which  has  produced  a  President.  Other 
classes  have  sent  out  Senators,  Governors  and  states- 
men, but  the  class  of  1849  has  the  distinguished 
honor  of  a  President.  I  allude  to  our  friend  and 
class-mate,  President  K.  P.  Battle,  wdiose  great  use- 


Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes.      191 

fulness  to  the  State  of  North  Carolina  is  generally 
conceded. 

I  cannot  close  my  remarks  without  reference  to 
the  very  able  Faculty  at  the  University  in  1849,  par- 
ticularly Dr.  Elisha  Mitchell,  my  especial  friend. 
Dr.  Mitchell  sacrificed  his  useful  life  upon  the  altar 
of  science.  Truly  can  it  be  said  that  he  died  a 
martyr  to  the  cause  of  the  University.  His  remains 
were  buried  upon  the  summit  of  a  lofty  mountain, 
to  which  he  has  given  a  name  which  will  continue 
to  the  end  of  time. 

President  Kemp  P.  Battle  added  a  few  words  to 
the  remarks  of  Mr.  William  E.  Hill,  who  represented 
the  class  of  1849.  He  claimed  for  his  class  the  honor 
of  numbering  among  its  members  a  benefactor  of 
the  University.  It  was  Rev.  John  Calvin  McNair, 
of  Robeson  county,  who  Idled  while  pursuing  his 
theological  studies  in  Edinburgh,  bequeathing  a 
valuable  estate,  after  his  mother's  death,  for  the 
establishment  of  a  lectureship  on  the  harmony  of 
Science  and  Religion.  Although  the  becmest  was 
mainly  swallowed  up  in  the  great  war-gulf,  he  set  a 
noble  example  which  others  should  follow. 

Another  of  the  class  of  1849  deserves  especial  men- 
tion, Col.  Edward  Mallett,  who  passed  unscathed 
through  many  battles  and  was  killed  at  Benton ville, 


192      Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes. 

leaving  four  small  children,  with  their  mother  dying 
of  consumption.  His  sword  is  on  the  walls  of  our 
Library,  so  deeply  indented  by  two  minie  balls  that 
it  cannot  be  drawn  from  its  scabbard.  He  was  buried 
in  his  uniform  in  the  Chapel  Hill  cemetery,  and 
sleeps  without  a  stone  to  mark  his  resting-place. 

President  Battle  expressed  his  gratification  in  meet- 
ing his  old  class-mates,  Hill,  Hines  and  Bryan  Whit- 
field, with  whom  he  had  entered  the  University 
forty- four  years  ago.  He  and  Hill  had  a  curious 
parallelism  in  regard  to  their  children,  each  sending 
four  sons  simultaneously  to  the  University  since  its 
reopening  in  1875. 

The  following  are  the  statistics  of  the  class  of  1849 : 
fifty -four  members  were  connected  with  it  during 
its  four  years'  course.  Of  these  thirty-six  graduated: 
thirty-four  are  dead  :  leaving  twenty  now  living. 

The 

Class  of  i$5Q 

Was  represented  by  Dr.  J.  F.  Cain,  Hon.  J.  J.  Davis, 
J.  W.  Lewis,  Esq.,  and  Hon.  John  Manning. 
Mr.  Manning  said : 

The  class  at  its  graduation  numbered  twenty-four. 
Nine  of  these  are  alive,  viz:  Dr.  James  F.  Cain,  of 
Durham;    E.  C.  Chambers,  of  Texas;  Dr.  Julius  A. 


Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes.      193 

Caldwell,  of  Salisbury ;  Madison  Hawkins,  of  Hen- 
derson; W.  H.  Johnston,  of  Tarboro;  Robert  W. 
Lewis,  of  Raleigh;  J.  W.  Lewis,  of  Milton;  R.  H. 
Whitfield,  of  Mississippi,  and  the  speaker. 

The  first  mite  men  in  the  class  were  John  Hill, 
William  H.  Johnston  and  Washington  C.  Kerr.  The 
class  always  regarded  Johnston  as  the  best  scholar, 
and  thought  that  he  should  have  had  the  valedictory ; 
it  was,  however,  given  to  Hill.  Johnston  declined 
to  speak  the  salutatory,  and  gave  it  to  a  second  mite 
man,  R,  H.  Hines. 

The  most  distinguished  members  of  the  class  were  r 
Thomas  Settle,  Benjamin  R.  Huske,  William  H, 
Johnston  and  Washington  C.  Kerr. 

Thomas  Settle  was  Solicitor  of  the  Hillsborough 
District,  twice  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
State,  Minister  of  the  United  States  to  Peru,  Presi- 
dent of  the  National  Republican  Convention  of  1872, 
and  United  States  District  Judge  for  the  State  of 
Florida. 

In  1875  he  was  the  nominee  of  the  Republican 
party  of  this  State  for  Governor,  and  bore  himself  so 
well  in  the  campaign  with  Governor  Vance  as  to 
command  the  respect  of  the  people,  and  prove  him- 
self the  equal  on  the  stump  of  his  great  opponent. 

He  was  a  man  of  commanding  figure  and  exceed- 
ingly handsome — graceful  in  all  his  movements, 
13 


194     Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes. 

and  eloquent  and  earnest  as  a  speaker.  Above  all, 
he  was  a  gallant  and  chivalrous  gentleman,  gentle 
as  a  woman,  and  yet  as  brave  as  any  knight  who 
fought  at  Crecy. 

Washington  C.  Kerr  became  eminent  as  a  geolo- 
gist, and  for  many  years  had  charge  of  the  geologi- 
cal survey  of  the  State.  No  man  was  better 
acquainted  with  North  Carolina,  her  soils,  minerals, 
stones,  flora  and"  waters,  and  no  one  of  her  citizens 
devoted  his  life  more  unselfishly  or  intelligently  to 
the  development  of  her  material  interests.  He  was 
a  live  man,  up  with  the  science  of  the  day.  The 
Museum  at  Raleigh  is  his  work  and  his  monument. 

Benjamin  R.  Huske,  of  Fayetteville,  came  to  the 
bar  and  rose  rapidly  in  the  profession.  In  fact,  no 
young  lawyer  in  the  Cumberland  circuit  commanded 
a  larger  patronage  or  won  more  verdicts.  He  went 
to  the  war  with  the  old  Fayetteville  company  as  one 
of  its  captains;  was  in  the  battle  of  Bethel,  in  the 
engagements  on  the  Peninsula  and  around  Rich- 
mond, and  in  the  battle  of  Seven  Pines  was  wounded, 
and  died  of  his  wounds  in  the  hospital  at  Richmond. 
Had  he  lived  he  would  have  attained  the  highest 
rank  in  his  profession. 

William  H.  Johnston  still  lives,  a  prosperous  gen- 
tleman, commanding  the  respect  and  love  of  his 
neighbors. 


Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes.      195 

Joseph  J.  Davis  was  a  law  student,  matriculating 
in  1847.  The  State  of  North  Carolina  knows  and 
has  honored  honest  Joe  Davis  —  captain  in  the  war, 
member  of  Congress,  and  now  a  Justice  of  the 
Supreme  Court. 

Old  friends,  we  have  had  our  ups  and  downs,  our 
joys  and  sorrows.  We  have  lost  most  of  our  worldly 
goods,  but,  thank  God,  we  have  the  old  land  yet,  and 
our  hearts  are  loyal  and  true  to  our  Alma  Mater  and 
to  our  State. 

The 
Class  of  1851 

Was  represented  by  Peter  E.  Smith,  Esq.,  who  said : 

I  am  the  only  member  of  the  class  of  1851  pres- 
ent, and  I  am'  thankful  to  be  at  this  grand  reunion 
of  the  Alumni.  There  were  forty-one  matriculates 
and  thirty-four  graduates  in  the  class.  Ten  of  these 
are  now  living.  The  class  was  an  average  in  num- 
bers and  intellect,  having  furnished  four  members  of 
the  State  Legislature,  to-wit:  David  M.  Carter,  Giles 
Leitch,  Claudius  B.  Sanders  and  Francis  E.  Shober — 
the  last  also  a  member  of  Congress  —  all  of  whom 
are  dead  except  Francis  E.  Shober.  One  was  a  pro- 
fessor in  the  University,  Benjamin  S.  Hedrick,  who 


196      Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by\Classes. 

also  filled  a  prominent  position  in  the  Patent  Office 
at  Washington  City  up  to  the  time  of  his  death. 
One  is  now  a  Judge  in  California,  Samuel  A.  Holmes. 
There  were  two  distinguished  lawyers,  D.  M.  Carter 
and  Bartholomew  F.  Fuller,  both  dead.  Two  colonels 
in  the  army,  D.  M.  Carter  and  Thomas  W.  Garret, 
who  was  killed,  at  Spottsylvania  (I  think).  The  day 
he  was  killed,  he  told  his  friends  he  would  come  out 
of  that  fight  a  "  Brigadier  "  or  a  dead  Colonel.  I  am 
told  that  he  won  his  laurels  but  died  without  know- 
ing it.  Another  brave  soldier  and  genial  friend 
succumbed  to  the  decrees  of  war,  viz:  John  Thomas 
Wheat. 

The  large  number  of  names  on  the  tablets  in  this 
hall  show  that  this  class  was  not  behind  her  sisters 
in  the  proportionate  numbers  slain  in  battle. 

It  is  a  sad  retrospect  to  see  that  all  of  the  old  Fac- 
ulty are  dead,  save  one,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Charles  F. 
Deems,  now  of  New  York,  who  will  be  remembered 
for  all  time  to  come  as  a  benefactor  to  the  youth  of 
the  State  in  procuring  the  "Deems"  fund  for  edu- 
cating deserving  poor  young  men  at  the  University. 


Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes.      197 

The 

Class  of  1S52 

Was  represented  by  Dr.  R.  L.  Beall,  George  A. 
Brett,  Esq.,  Captain  John  R,  Hutchins  and  Dr.  R. 
H.  Lewis. 

Dr.  Beall  said : 

Since  this  morning,  when  my  class  selected  me  to 
represent  them,  I  have  had  no  time,  except  amid  the 
exciting  and  thrilling  scenes  of  this  and  the  banquet 
hall,  in  which  to  collect  from  the  members  present 
the  statistics  of  my  class.  Of  course  this  mere  sketch 
is,  in  a  measure,  impromptu,  and,  therefore,  imper- 
fect. 

The  class  of  1852  numbered,  at  graduation,  forty- 
two.  I  find  that  twenty-one  have  "passed  over  to 
the  great  majority."  Ours  has  always  been  a  modest 
class  and  hardly  passed  for  its  worth,  but,  as  honors 
go  in  this  world,  we  have  a  fair  share.  I  find  on  the 
roll  five  M.  D.'s  and  several  lawyers,  but  as  lawyers 
and  doctors  are  no  exception  in  all  the  classes  I  need 
not  mention  them  by  name.  We  have  one  Doctor 
of  Divinity,  Rev.  S.  Milton  Frost,  of  Davie  Count}r, 
now  of  Harrisburg,  Pennsylvania;  one  Judge,  the 
late  Hon.  W.  A.  Moore;  two  distinguished  civil 
engineers,  Warner  Lewis,  of  Virginia,  and  Maj.  J.  W. 


198      Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes. 

Wilson,  of  Morganton,  who  was  the  projector  of 
the  great  feat  of  engineering,  the  Western  North 
Carolina  Railroad  across  the  Bine  Ridge,  and  who 
received  the  high  distinction  of  being  selected  by 
the  Canadian  government  to  judge  the  correctness 
of  the  engineering  on  her  great  Pacific  railway.  I 
find  three  distinguished  educators  of  youth,  Jere 
Slade,  of  Georgia,  Rev.  Dr.  Frost,  of  Pennsylvania, 
and  Dr.  R,  H.  Lewis,  of  Kinston,  North  Carolina  ;  and 
one  distinguished  Attorney  General,  Hon.  William 
D.  Barnes,  of  Florida.  We  can  say  what,  perhaps, 
no  other  class  of  the  University  can  say:  one  of  our 
number  has  been  a  member  of  the  Legislature  of 
North  Carolina,  a  member  of  the  United  States 
Congress  before  the  war,  a  distinguished  officer  in 
the  Confederate  Army,  three  times  Governor  of 
North  Carolina,  and  now  a  United  States  Senator. 
I  mean  Zebulon  B.  Vance,  our  "  Zeb." 

And  now  I  have  come  to  a  class  which  I  have  left 
for  the  last — on  the  principle  which  governed  General 
Clingman  when  to-day  he  addressed  the  ladies  last  — 
last  because  best  of  all  —  at  least  not  inferior  in  dig- 
nity or  importance.     I  mean  our  agricultural  class. 

Among  our  distinguished  tillers  of  the  soil  I  find 
John  R.  Hutchins,  of  Orange,  and  George  A.  Brett, 
of  Hertford.  In  my  travels  over  this  broad  land, 
from  New  York  to  New  Orleans  and  from  Morehead 


Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes.      199 

City  to  St.  Louis,  I  have  not  seen  a  more  beautiful, 
well-arranged  and  scientifically  cultivated  farm  than 
that  of  our  class-mate,  Hon.  Thomas  M.  Holt. 

At  the  banquet  and  reunion  in  Gerrard  Hall  this 
afternoon,  my  heart  swelled  with  patriotic  pride  as 
I  listened  to  the  eloquent  speeches  detailing  the 
triumphs  of  our  Alumni  on  the  battle-field,  in  public 
life,  at  the  bar,  on  the  bench,  in  the  ministry  and 
as  physicians — their  great  services  to  the  State  as 
leaders  in  public  and  private  education,  in  manufac- 
tures, internal  improvements  and  trade.  But  a  shade 
of  disappointment  came  over  the  bright  picture 
when  the  toast  on  Agriculture  was  called  and  not  a 
single  voice  responded.* 

Mr.  President,  I  know  that  our  farmers  are  a 
modest  class,  shrinking  from  public  notice  and  pre- 
ferring to  let  their  deeds  speak  for  them.  This  omis- 
sion ought  not  to  have  been.  I  know  it  was  not  the 
fault  of  the  Committee  of  Arrangements.  I  know 
among  our  Alumni,  farmers  abundantly  qualified  to 
have  set  forth  with  ability  and  eloquence  our  achieve- 
ments in  this  great  field. 

I  listened  with  rapt  attention  to  the  speech  of  Dr. 
Curry,  and  my  heart  was  filled  with  gratitude  as  he 


*The  Committee  endeavored  most  faithfully,  but  unsuccessfully,  to 
secure  responses  to  the  toasts  to  "Agriculture"  and  to  "Trade," 
which  were  on  the  programme. 


200      Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes. 

enumerated  the  great  philanthropists  of  the  North 
who  had  so  generously  showered  their  treasures  upon 
the  educational  institutions  of  the  South.  But,  sir,  you 
may  have  millions  bestowed  on  your  institutions 
invested  in  magnificent  buildings  and  the  very  best 
of  scientific  apparatus:  you  may  have  a  hundred  pro- 
fessorships and  every  professorship  endowed  with 
thousands  of  dollars,  and  yet  there  might  be  one  thing 
lacking,  without  which  your  institutions  would  be  as 
"sounding  brass."  as  nothing.  I  mean  men  to  fill 
your  chairs,  and  boys  to  fill  your  halls! 

Where  will  you  get  them?  I  answer,  mainly  from 
the  tillers  of  the  soil,  directly  or  indirectly.  I  ven- 
ture the  assertion,  sir.  that  the  majority  of  the  dis- 
tinguished men  among  you.  in  the  liberal  professions 
even,  either  tilled  the  soil  themselves  in  their  youth. 
or  that  their  fathers  or  grandfathers  did  before  them. 
Why,  sir,  in  view  of  the  enervating  tendency  of  our 
modern  civilization  as  manifested  in  our  town,  city 
and  public  life,  I  am  tempted  to  think  that  the  salt 
which  is  to  save  us  from  national  degeneration 
must  come  from  the  farmers  of  the  land. 

Let  a  boy  have  his  bones  hardened  and  his  mus- 
cles toughened  by  toil,  his  lungs  expanded  and  his 
blood  purified  by  the  fresh  air  of  the  fields;  let  his 
powers  of  observation  and  reasoning  be  quickened 
by  looking  into  the  forests  and  fields  and  brooks  and 


Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes.      201 

at  the  varied  forms  of  animal  life  he  sees  around  him, 
and  let  the  finer  feelings  of  his  nature  be  developed 
and  his  passions  subdued  by  this  intercourse  with 
Nature,  and  I  say,  sir,  you  have  the  raw  material  out 
of  which  to  manufacture  a  perfect  model  of  an  intel- 
lectual man.  Mens  sana  in  corpore  sano  was  the  clas- 
sic model. 

More  than  seven-tenths  of  our  people  are  inter- 
ested in  agriculture,  and,  I  repeat,  it  is  mainly  from 
this  class  that  you  must  look  for  your  patronage. 

I  live  under  the  shadow  of  a  great  mountain, 
founded  on  everlasting  granite,  and  lifting  its  peaks 
nearly  six  thousand  feet  above  the  waves  of  the  sea, 
and  to  it  are  flowing  people  from  every  quarter  of 
our  country  for  health  and  pleasure  and  beauties  of 
Nature.  And  now,  sir,  let  us  take  this  great  moun- 
tain—  or,  perhaps  better  still,  the  far  grander  moun- 
tain seen  in  prophetic  vision,  and  to  which  flowed 
all  nations  of  the  earth  —  let  us  take  it  as  the  sym- 
bol of  this  great  University,  founded  on  the  strong 
affection  and  prayers  of  our  people  of  all  classes, 
and  from  this  solid  foundation  let  its  domes  tower 
heavenward,  and  there  will  flow  to  it  "every  people 
and  kindred  and  tongue,"  from  the  wave- washed 
shores  of  Currituck  to  the  thunder-riven  peaks  of 
Cherokee,  and  from  this  and  future  generations  will 
go  up,  with  a  great  shout  and  a  mighty  voice,  "  The 


'202      Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes. 

Old  North  State  and  her  University;  one  and  insep- 
arable, now  and  forever!-' 

The 
Class  of  /Sjj 

Was  represented  by  Baldy  A.  Capehart,  Esq.,  Prof. 
A.  Mclver,  Col.  John  L.  Morehead,  Hon.  Henry  R. 
Shorter,  Col.  John  D.  Taylor  and  David  G.  Worth. 
Esq. 

Colonel  Shorter  said  : 

In  September,  1850,  a  light-haired,  gray-eyed 
youth  came  here  alone  from  Alabama,  and  after 
undergoing  rigid  examinations  that  nearly  seared 
the  life  out  of  him  he  was  permitted  to  enter  the 
Sophomore  class.  During  the  next  three  years,  short 
and  eventful  years,  he  knew  the  sunlight  and  the 
shadows  of  these  classic  groves.  He  loved  the  friends 
and  companions  of  his  youth,  and  parted  with  them 
in  sorrow,  when,  at  the  end  of  his  college  course,  he 
hied  away  to  the  gay  savannas  of  his  distant  Ala- 
bama home. 

And  now,  after  thirty-six  years  of  contact  with 
life  —  real  hard,  practical  life,  and  all  of  its  friction  — 
your  humble  speaker  comes  again  to  worship  once 
more   at   the   shrine   of   his   beloved    Alma    Mater. 


Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes.      203 

Although  my  lot  in  life  has  been  cast  in  a  different 
and  distant  section  of  our  common  country,  yet,  dur- 
ing these  long  years  of  absence  I  have  never  ceased, 
to  love  this  grand  Old  North  State,  and  for  my 
Alma  Mater  I  have  ever  cherished' an  absolute  affec- 
tion. I  have  watched  and  admired  all  these  years, 
with  an  intense  pleasure,  the  splendid  talent  and 
manhood  of  your  State,  and  God,  who  knows  the 
secrets  of  our  hearts,  knows  I  have  loved  your  women. 
I  find  in  my  heart  an  inexpressible  happiness  in 
being  here  to-day  to  unite  with  you  in  this  centen- 
nial celebration.  Over  mountains  and  rivers,  over 
hills  and  valleys,  and  over  fields  and  forests  I  have 
come  to  be  with  you  here,  and  now  I  salute  you,  my 
class-mates,  companions  and  friends  of  my  youth. 
Let  us  rejoice  that  we  have  met  again;  let  us  clap 
our  hands  together  in  joyful  song  over  the  memories 
of  Auld  Lang  Syne. 

My  class-mates,  those  were  the  halcyon  days  of 
life.  Friendships  formed  when  the  heart  is  fresh  and 
pure,  free  from  the  canker  of  the  world  and  the  foul 
slime  of  worldly  considerations,  are  the  sweetest  and 
most  durable.  We  could  not  forget  them  if  we  would. 
Every  gale  of  pleasure  will  waft  the  sweet  memory  to 
our  souls.  Every  storm  of  sorrow  will  bring  back  the 
contrast  of  past  pleasures.  If  we  are  filled  with  the 
world's  joys,  they  will  grow  brightest  and  greenest 


204     Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes. 

amid  the  loves  of  our  hearts;  if  we  are  cast  down  by 
misfortune  and  disaster,  they  will  rear  themselves, 
in  the  desert  of  our  affections,  a  fitting  monument 
over  the  grave  of  dead  and  buried  hopes.  And 
now,  after  long  years  of  our  parting,  how  happy  is 
the  hour  of  our  meeting. 

"  Oh,  time  is  sweet,  when  roses  meet 
With  Spring's  soft  breath  around  them. 
And  sweet  the  cost  when  hearts  are  lost. 
If  those  we  love  have  found  them: 
And  sweet  the  mind  that  still  can  find 
A  star  in  darkest  weather. 
Yet,  nought  can  be  so  swee^  to  see. 
As  old  friends  met  together. 

"  Those  days  of  old,  when  youth  was  bold, 
And  time  stole  wings  to  speed  it. 
And  youth  ne*er  knew  how  fast  time  flew  — 
Or  knowing,  did  not  heed  it; 
Though  cold  each  brow  that  meets  us  now, 
For  age  brings  wintry  weather, 
Yet,  nought  can  be  more  sweet  to  see. 
Than  old  friends  met  together." 

And  it  is  a  happy  hour  with  us  that  we  have  here 
met  together;  but  vibrations  of  sorrow  and  sadness 
break  across  our  hearts,  as  we  learn  from  one  another 
the  names  of  the  dead  of  the  class  of  1853. 

Here  we  have  wandered  together  through  the 
campus  and  the  grove  as  when  we  were  boys.     We 


Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes.      205 

have  looked  in  upon  the  same  old  college  rooms  in 
which  we  lived  when  we  were  students  here.  And 
those  still,  solemn,  gray  old  walls  have  given  back 
to  us  the  whisperings  of  years  long  gone  by.  And 
when  the  college  bell  this  morning  awoke  me  from 
my  slumbers,  I  felt  that  I  should  quickly  spring 
from  my  couch  and  hasten  to  yonder  old  chapel  to 
see  again  the  strong  and  manly  form  of  the  vener- 
able Dr.  Charles  Phillips  standing  on  the  rostrum, 
with  pencil  and  book  in  hand,  calling  — 

(The  speaker  here  called  the  roll  of  his  class  from 
memory.) 

Of  the  fifty-seven  graduates  of  1853,  only  six  of  us 
are  here  to-day.  God  be  merciful  and  good  to  all  the 
others  wherever  they  may  be!  I  well  remember 
them  all  —  their  happy  faces  and  their  manly  forms. 
To  you  I  tender  a  brother's  greeting  and  a  brother's 
love.  May  you  in  every  thought  bring  back  the  past 
without  a  regret,  gild  the  future  with  the  brightest 
hope,  and  fill  to  overflowing  your  cups  of  happiness 
without  a  single  drop  of  pain;  and  when  in  future 
memory  reverts  to  your  college  days,  may  I  be  with 
you  again  and  have  a  great  big  place  in  your  hearts. 

Mr.  President,  that  wonderful  State  in  which  I  live 
demands  a  constant  work  from  me.  The  book  of  the 
future  is  closed  against  us.  The  future  conditions  of 
life  may  prevent,  or  forbid,  my  attending  your  com- 


"206      Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes. 

mencements ;  but  if  I  am  not  here  in  person,  I  will 
be  in  spirit,  and  abide  with  you  all  in  the  sweetest 
meditations.  Farewell — farewell,  and  may  God  be 
with  you  always. 

The 
Class  of  1854. 

Was  represented  by  Richard  H.  Battle,  Esq.,  David 
S.  Cowan,  Esq.,  Capt,  E.  Hayne  Davis,  Col.  John  M. 
Galloway,  Capt.  Richard  B.  Henderson,  Capt.  Robert 
B.  Johnston,  Capt.  Oscar  R.  Rand,  Col.  William  L. 
Saunders,  John  D.  Shaw,  Esq.,  Capt.  William  H. 
Thompson,  and  Rev.  William  R.  Wetmore. 

Mr.  Richard  H.  Battle  said: 

The  class  of  1854  numbered  eighty-eight  mem- 
bers in  all  during  the  college  course,  and  of  them 
over  sixty  graduated  ;  of  these  sixty,  but  twenty-six 
are  now  living.  It  was  the  largest  class  ever  gradu- 
ated up  to  that  time  and  for  two  or  three  years  there- 
after. It  was  probably  the  youngest  in  the  average 
of  its  members  ever  graduated  from  the  institution, 
some  eight  or  ten  being  only  eighteen  years  old,  only 
two  as  much  as  twenty-five,  and  the  average  not 
over  twenty.  It  was  also  one  of  the  most  patriotic  of 
classes.     Nearly  all  of  us    volunteered  at  the  call  of 


Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes.      207 

our  State  to  arms  in  the  late  war.  We  furnished  half 
a  dozen  or  more  field-officers  and  surgeons,  about 
twenty  captains  and  nearly  as  many  lieutenants, 
while  several  others  were  content  to  serve  as  non-com- 
missioned officers  and  privates.  About  fifteen  per  cent, 
fill  heroes'  graves,  at  least  four  of  the  bravest  and 
best  having  been  killed  in  the  battles  before  Rich- 
mond in  the  summer  of  1862.  Two  of  our  gallant 
captains  (Davis  and  Johnston)  stand  before  you  with 
empty  sleeves.  That  some  of  us  have  been  mindful 
of  our  duty  to  the  State  since  the  war,  appears  from 
the  fact  that  one  of  us  now  present  has  twelve  living 
children,  and  another,  who  would  have  come  but  for 
sickness,  has  eleven. 

The  speaker  for  the  class  of  1847  has  told  you 
something  of  the  introduction  of  Peirce's  very  diffi- 
cult mathematics  into  the  institution.  Our  class,  with 
that  ahead  of  us,  while  Sophomores  and  Juniors, 
respectively,  aided  in  the  exit  of  his  higher  mathemat- 
ical books  from  the  course  of  study  here.  Finding  out 
that  "  Peirce's  Analytics  and  Calculus, "  which  were 
bound  in  one  volume,  were  out  of  print,  an  informal 
meeting  of  some  of  both  classes,  who  had  become  hope- 
lessly lost  in  those  studies,  was  held,  and  it  was  resolved 
that  a  holocaust  of  these  books  should  be  had.  A 
committee  was  appointed  to  collect  the  condemned 
books,  in  any  way  that  might  be  found  effectual,  and 


'208      Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes. 

the  committee  being  successful  in  getting  into  their 
possession  all  but  two  or  three,  a  great  bonfire  of 
these  books  was  kindled  one  dark  night  in  the  rear 
of  the  campus,  and  in  a  few  minutes  only  their  ashes 
remained  to  tell  the  tale  of  their  destruction.  The 
next  day,  when  their  former  owners  were  called  up 
by  the  professors  of  mathematics  to  recite,  they  fessed, 
as  the  phrase  then  was,  but  with  the  excellent  excuse 
that  they  had  no  books.  The  Faculty  soon  learned 
the  true  state  of  the  facts,  and,  in  view  of  the  great 
temptation  upon  the  boys  to  relieve  themselves  of  a 
burden  that  seemed  to  them  so  grievous,  they  con- 
cluded to  pass  by  the  offence,  and  make  the  best  of 
what  they  couldn't  help,  I  do  not  mention  this  as  to 
the  credit  of  the  classes  of  1S53  and  1854,  but  only  as 
a  contribution  to  history.  On  the  whole,  we  were  not 
bad  boys,  but  were  generally  on  the  side  of  law  and 
order. 

lean  hardly  say  more  without  trenching  upon  the 
time  for  hearing  from  other  classes,  and  I  will  end 
my  remarks  upon  the  class  of  1854  with  a  sugges- 
tion of  a  practical  character,  which  was  made  to  me 
to-day  by  a  member  of  the  class,  and  I  now  repeat  it, 
in  the  hope  that  something  may  be  made  of  it  in  the 
future.  It  is  that,  somehow,  a  voice  should  be  given  to 
the  Alumni  of  this  University,  who,  above  all  others, 
love  it  and  desire  its  welfare,  in  the  selection  of  at 


Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes.      209 

least  a  part  of  the  Board  of  Trustees.  It  is  hoped 
that,  before  the  next  session  of  the  General  Assembly, 
a  committee  from  the  Alumni  will  consider  and  pre- 
sent some  plan  looking  to  this  end,  to  the  Legislature. 
What  has  worked  so  well  in  some  of  the  great  col- 
leges at  the  North,  ought  to  succeed  as  well  here. 
We  now  give  place  to  our  friends  of  the  class  of  1855. 

The 

Class  of  1S55 

Was  represented  by  N.  A.  Boyden,  Esq.,  M.  S. 
Davis,  Esq.,  Dr.  William  J.  Love  and  Rev.  S.  P. 
Watters. 

Air.  Watters  said : 

The  class  of  '55  greet  their  brethren  of  the  Alumni 
on  this  auspicious  occasion,  the  commemoration  of 
the  centennial  of  the  founding  of  our  honored  Alma 
Hater. 

Our  class-history,  in  brief,  is  that  fifty-five  mem- 
bers were  graduated  as  Bachelors  of  Arts.  Of  this 
number,  perhaps  one-half  are  living.  During  the 
war  the  class  furnished  a  noble  complement  of 
patriots  to  the  Southern  cause,  one  of  its  members 
attaining  the  rank  of  Brigadier  General. 

To  the  learned  professions  the  class  has  con- 
tributed its  fair  proportion.  One  of  its  members,  a 
14 


210      Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes. 

former  member  of  Congress  in  Louisiana ;  one, 
latterly,  an  honored  Judge  on  the  Superior  Court 
bench  of  the  State ;  one  a  distinguished  physician 
in  the  city  of  New  York;  while  the  class  has  the 
exceptional  distinction  of  contributing  six  of  its 
members  to  the  ministry  of  the  Gospel.  Where- 
soever found,  in  their  various  vocations  and  pur- 
suits, we  believe  they  are  sustaining  the  fair  fame  of 
our  University. 

"We  are  happy  to  greet  our  brethren  of  the  Alumni, 
reviving  (as  this  reunion  should)  our  loyalty  to  and 
our  pride  in  our  Alma  Mater.  We  pledge  our  co- 
operation in  any  mode  devised,  in  any  work  inaugu- 
rated, whose  tendency  shall  be  the  building  up  of  our 
honored  University,  fervently  trusting  that  the  tra- 
ditional glories  of  her  past  may  be  enhanced  by  her 
grander  history  in  the  near  and  coming  future. 

The 
Class  of  1S56 

Was  represented  by  W.  F.  Alderman,  Esq.,  William 
Burwell,  Esq.,  Hon.  Clement  Dowd,  A.  If.  Merritt, 
Esq.,  and  Col.  B.  R,  Moore. 

Mr.  Merritt  said: 

The  class  which  I  have  the  honor  to  represent 
before  this  audience  consisted  of  fifty-six  members, 


'Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes.      211 

and  graduated  thirty-three  years  ago.  It  contained 
no  geniuses,  but  stood  high  in  scholarship,  and  much 
above  the  average  class  in  moral  tone  and  correct 
deportment,  Its  history,  since  graduation,  has  been 
alike  useful  to  society  and  creditable  to  the  Univer- 
sity. Various  positions  of  trust  and  honor  have  been 
filled  by  its  members,  but  no  act  that  was  not  justi- 
fied by  honor  has  ever  attached  to  any  single  mem- 
ber. At  the  bar,  in  the  pulpit,  at  the  teacher's  desk, 
in  the  halls  of  legislation,  in  the  editorial  chair,  upon 
the  tented  field,  always  and  everywhere,  the  class  of 
1856  has  borne  itself  bravely.  But  a  sad  mortality 
has  followed  it.  More  than  seventy  per  cent,  have 
passed  over  to  the  great  majority.  The  death-roll 
contains  many  names  of  men  of  high  intellect  and 
noble  promise,  who,  dying,  have  left  records  of  lives 
of  true  manhood.  Turn  to  these  mural  tablets,  and 
read  the  names  of  such  chivalrous  men  as  Morrow 
and  Owens,  and  you  may  know  well  some  of  the  sac- 
rifices made  by  this  class  on  the  altar  of  country  and 
freedom.  Go  into  the  school-rooms,  from  Maine  to 
California,  and  you  will  find  what  a  rich  and  lasting 
legacy  to  the  literature  of  the  country  William  Bing- 
ham has  made  in   his  classical  series. 

Of  the  living  members  of  this  class — "rari  nantesin 
gurgitevasto" — Dr.  J.  B.  Ivillebrew  stands  prominent. 
No  man,  living  or  dead,  has  done  so  much  as  he  to 


212        Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes. 

elevate  the  agricultural  interests  and  develop  the 
resources  of  the  great  State  of  Tennessee.  Others 
occupy  prominent  places  at  the  bar,  at  the  sacred  desk, 
and  in  the  various  walks  of  high  and  honorable  life. 

Of  these  gentlemen  who  stand  before  you  to-day, 
one  has  devoted  a  useful  life  to  teaching,  and  is  now 
a  professor  in  one  of  our  best  colleges  for  young  ladies ; 
another  has  been  worn  bald  by  the  honors  heaped 
upon  him  in  the  National  Congress  ;  another  has  been 
touched  lightly  by  time,  and  stands  here  in  the  pride 
of  vigorous  manhood,  a  representative  of  the  legal 
profession  ;  another  is  prominent  as  a  farmer  and  as 
the  father  of  thirteen  children,  and  as  such  he  deserves 
to  be  honored  "maxima  cunt  laude."  Of  the  other 
member  of  the  class  present,  perhaps  the  least  said 
the  better;  but  the  temptation  of  a  compliment  to 
him  is  not  to  be  resisted.  He  has  shown,  in  one 
respect  at  least,  more  wisdom  than  Solomon,  in  that 
he  has  never  married  but  one  wife ;  and  taking  advan- 
tage of  the  privilege  granted  to  all  Benedicts  when 
out  of  ear-shot  of  their  drill-masters,  it  is  declared 
that  the  world  would  be  all  the  better  if  the  woman 
whose  husband  he  is  were  spared  to  celebrate  the 
next  centennial. 

The  class  of  1856  bids  the  University  and  each 
brother  alumnus  hail !  —  it  bids  them  farewell ! 


Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes.      213 

The 
Class  of  185J 

Was  represented  by  Hon.  A.  C.  Avery,  Maj.  Robert 
Bingham,  Dr.  Daniel  McL.  Graham,  Maj.  John  W. 
Graham,  Col.  Thomas  S.  Kenan,  Dr.  John  M.  La  wing, 
and  William  H.  Williams,  Esq. 

Colonel  Kenan  presented  the  class  in  a  few  remarks. 

The 

Class  of  185S 

Was  represented  by  William  Bonner,  Esq.,  Hon. 
Lewis  Hilliard,  Col.  John  A.  Gilmer,  F.  M.  Johnson, 
Esq.,  Rev.  R,  H.  Marsh,  Thomas  W.  Mason,  Esq., 
Col.  A.  C.  McAlister,  Dr.  J.  F.  Miller,  Col.  James  T. 
Morehead,  James  A.  Walker,  Esq. 

Mr.  Thomas  W.  Mason  said : 

Those  of  us  present  earnestly  desired  that  our 
worthy  class-mate,  Judge  Gilmer,  should  speak  to 
you  in  our  behalf,  and  represent  the  class  of  1858. 
With  his  accustomed  generosity  he  has  insisted  that 
I  should  be  clothed  with  this  honor,  which,  I  am 
sure,  I  do  not  merit,  but  which  I  should  greatly 
enjoy,  if  I  felt  that  I  could,  without  further  time  for 
thought,  be  just  to  the  merits  of  the  living  and  the 
memory  of  the  dead. 


214     Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes. 

On  the  third  day  of  June,  1858,  we  went  forth 
from  Gerrard  Hall,  ninety-two  in  number,  to  our 
different  homes:  one  to  Arkansas,  six  to  Alabama, 
two  to  Florida,  two  to  Georgia,  two  to  Louisiana,  six 
to  Mississippi,  one  to  South  Carolina,  seven  to  Ten- 
nessee, three  to  Virginia  and  sixty-two  to  North 
Carolina.  AVe  have  never  met  since.  To-day,  those 
of  us  present  sat  down  on  the  steps  of  the  old  West 
Building  and  tried  to  recall  our  absent  class-mates. 
The  hand  of  time  had  scattered  them  far  apart,  and 
some  of  them  we  failed  to  trace. 

AVe  sadly  believe  that  half  our  number  have  died. 
Many  of  these  fell  while  in  the  military  service  for 
the  South.  Their  names  appear  in  quick  succession 
upon  these  walls:  William  Adams,  of  Guilford;  Rob- 
ert Walker  Anderson,  of  New  Hanover;  Jesse  Sharpe 
Barnes,  of  Wilson ;  Edward  Starkie  Bell,  of  Alabama ; 
Hugh  Thomas  Brown,  of  AVilkes;  Thomas  Cowan,  of 
New  Hanover;  Robert  Theodore  Harris,  of  Alabama; 
Addison  Harvey,  of  Mississippi;  William  Campbell 
Lord,  of  Rowan,  one  of  our  "  first-honor"  men ;  John 
Merritt  Perry,  another  "first-honor"  man,  of  Beau- 
fort; David  Jones  Young,  of  Granville,  afterwards, 
and  at  the  time  of  his  death,  of  Petersburg,  Virginia. 
Their  names  are  here ;  their  lives  have  passed  into 
glorious  history.  I  would  willingly  speak  to  you  of 
each  one  of  these  whom  we  so  much  cherish,  but  I 


Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes.      215 

am  reminded  that  the  hours  are  passing  by,  and  that 
many  others  than  those  of  the  class  of  1858  are 
worthy  to  be  remembered  on  this  day,  which  we  have 
dedicated  to  the  memory  of  the  past.  I  must  ask 
you,  and  I  am  sure  my  class-mates  will  approve  it, 
to  let  me  pause  and  say  one  word  of  Robert  Walker 
Anderson,  who  was  one  of  our  "first-honor"  men 
with  greatest  distinction.  I  have  never  known  a 
clearer,  stronger  intellect,  exalted  and  ennobled  by  a 
simpler,  purer,  kinder,  braver  heart  than  his.  Peace 
and  honor  to  him  ! 

We  gave  to  the  Southern  armyone  General,  Robert 
Daniel  Johnston,  of  Lincoln,  afterwards  a  lawyer  of 
large  practice  in  Mecklenburg,  and  now  a  citizen  of 
Birmingham,  Alabama.  He  was  an  efficient,  dash- 
ing commander.  It  was  my  fortune  to  meet  him 
once  in  the  midst  of  a  fierce  conflict  of  arms,  when 
he  seized  me  by  the  hand,  exclaiming,  "Old  friend, 
how  glorious  it  is!"  May  success  attend  him  in  his 
new  home. 

Six  of  our  number  commanded  regiments  in  the 
same  service.  I  am  happy  to  say  three  of  these  are 
with  us  to-day,  and  I  now  have  the  pleasure  to  intro- 
duce to  you  Col.  John  Alexander  Gilmer,  of  Guil- 
ford; Col.  James  Turner  Morehead,  also  of  Guilford, 
who  was  another  of  our  "first-honor"  men,  and  who 
has  always  remained  first  with  us;  and  Col.  Alexan- 


216     Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes. 

der  Carey  McAlister,  of  Randolph,  with  whom  time 
seems  to  have  dealt  so  gently  that  the  bloom  of 
youth  has  not  faded  from  his  brow,  nor  his  eye  lost 
its  old-time  merry  light,  You  will  observe  that  my 
friend  Colonel  Gilmer  limps  as  he  walks;  but,  thanks 
to  a  kind  Providence,  the  bullet  did  not  stop  the 
beating  of  his  noble  heart,  or  take  from  us  any  of 
the  sunshine  of  his  kindly  face.  Two  of  this  num- 
ber, I  regret  to  say,  are  not  with  us:  Col.  Hamilton 
Chamberlain  Jones,  of  Rowan  formerly,  but  now  of 
Mecklenburg,  and  whom,  if  you  please,  we  know 
best  as  our  Ham  Jones;  and  Richard  W.  Singleton, 
now  living  in  Florida.  The  one  remaining  sleeps  in 
an  honored  grave,  Col.  Leroy  Mangum  McAfee,  of 
Cleveland,  another  "first-honor"  man. 

Of  less  rank  than  these  in  the  military  service 
were  forty  or  more  of  our  number  as  we  were  able 
to  follow  them.  I  have  given  you  the  names  of 
some  of  these  among  our  honored  dead,  and  some 
are  present  with  us,  whom  I  shall  presently  have  the 
honor  to  introduce  to  you.  Of  those  who  are  absent, 
and  whom  I  have  not  already  named,  let  me  recall  the 
following:  James  Smith  Baker,  now  living  in  Florida; 
Lemuel  Creecy  Benbury,  of  Chowan,  who  has  died 
since  the  war;  Wilkins  Bruce,  of  Virginia;  William 
Macon  Coleman,  of  Cabarrus,  gifted  as  a  writer,  for- 
merly practising  law  in  this  State,  but  now  residing 


Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes.      "Ill 

in  Washington  City  ;  David  Short  Goodloe,  of.  Mis- 
sissippi, who  lost  an  arm  during  the  war,  was  after- 
wards a  minister  of  the  Gospel  of  the  Protestant  Epis- 
copal Church,  and  is  now  dead  ;  his  brother,  Winter 
Hooe  Goodloe,  of  Mississippi ;  John  Charles  Goodman, 
of  Gates,  prosecuting  his  profession  as  a  physician  ; 
William  May  Hammond,  of  Anson,  another  of  our 
"  first-honor "  men,  who  served  with  distinction  on 
the  staff  of  the  lamented  General  Junius  Daniel,  who 
has  attained  to  success  in  his  profession  as  a  lawyer, 
and  is  now  residing  in  the  State  of  Georgia;  James. 
Stadler  Hill,  of  Stokes,  who  is  principal  of  a  large 
school  at  Dalton,  Ga.;  William  Washington  Hum- 
phries, of  Mississippi,  a  prominent  and  successful 
lawyer  at  Columbus;  Stephen  William  Isler,  of 
Wayne,  a  lawyer  of  large  practice  at  Goldsboro ; 
William  Little,  of  Wake,  prominent  as  a  physician 
at  Raleigh  until  his  death ;  Thomas  Noles  Macart- 
ney, of  Alabama,  a  well-known  lawyer  of  Mobile ; 
Rufus  Brooks  Mann,  of  Granville  ;  James  Alexander 
Marsh,  of  Randolph,  who  died  while  residing  at  Ral- 
eigh about  ten  years  ago;  Joseph  Lucian  McCon- 
naughey,  of  Rowan,  practising  his  profession  as  a 
physician ;  Frederick  Philips,  now  the  resident  Judge 
of  the  Superior  Court  of  the  second  judicial  dis- 
trict;  John  McCrarey  Richmond,  of  South  Carolina, 
a  physician  in  Missouri;   James  Turner  Scales,  of 


"218      Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes. 

Virginia  ;  Benjamin  Gordon  Smith,  of  Halifax  ;  Wil- 
liam Thomas  Sutton,  of  Bertie,  now  a  physician  of 
large  practice  in  the  city  of  Norfolk,  Virginia ;  Cald- 
well Calhoun  Swayze,  of  Louisiana,  residing  in  Ope- 
lousas  of  that  State;  Edward  Turner  Sykes,  of  Mis- 
sissippi, a  successful  lawyer  of  Columbus,  recently  a 
prominent  member  of  the  Legislature  of  Mississippi ; 
Henry  Humphreys  Tate,  of  Mecklenburg,  now 
engaged  in  farming  ;  William  Lewis  Twitty,  of  Ruth- 
erford ;  Samuel  Edward  Westray,  of  Nash,  now 
engaged  in  banking  and  a  large  planter;  Joseph 
Mastris  White,  of  Florida,  now  dead;  Thomas  Smith 
Whitted,  of  Bladen ;  Joseph  Williams,  of  Yadkin, 
of  whose  death  within  a  recent  period  I  have  learned: 
Julius  Walker  Wright,  of  New  Hanover,  who  died 
in  1878  ;  William  Hamilton  Young,  of  Granville, 
who  was  Assistant  United  States  Attorney  for  the 
Eastern  District  of  North  Carolina,  a  prominent  law- 
yer, and  who  died  at  his  home  in  the  town  of  Hen- 
derson a  few  years  ago. 

I  grieve  to  say,  for  lack  of  information,  I  can 
make  no  statement  as  to  the  remaining  members  of 
our  class. 

Sad  to  relate,  not  a  few  of  our  number  died  soon 
after  graduation.  Our  valedictorian,  William  Carey 
Dowd,  of  Wake,  with  the  shadow  of  death  upon  his 
pale  brow  when  he  bade  us  good-bye,  lingered  but  a 


Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes.      219 

few  months  thereafter.  The  gentle  Nathaniel  Pear- 
son Lusher,  of  Tennessee,  died  at  his  home  in  Mem- 
phis in  1859.  Handsome,  genial  Ambrose  Davie, 
"  Little  Dutch,"  as  we  used  to  call  him,  perished,  with 
his  beautiful  bride,  in  February,  IS  >1,  by  the  burn- 
ing of  the  steamer  "Charmer"  on  the  Mississippi, 
above  New  Orleans.  And  so  passed  away  early, 
my  friends  Samuel  Mitchell  Brinson,  of  Craven,  and 
William  John  Foreman,  of  Pitt,  with  the  latter  of 
whom  I  had  been  associated  for  six  years  of  my 
school  life.  And  later  than  these,  S.  Dupuy  Goza, 
of  Louisiana;  Samuel  Turner  Sykes,  of  Mississippi; 
Macon  Tucker  Dugger,  of  Warren ;  William  Whita- 
ker,  of  Halifax;  William  Murphy,  of  Rowan;  John 
Webster  Tate,  of  Gaston,  and  of  still  more  recent 
date,  Richard  Caswell  Swain,  of  Chapel  Hill. 

We  gave  to  the  bench  of  North  Carolina  three  of 
our  number.  One  of  these,  who  has  retired  from 
official  life,  and  is  now  engaged  in  the  business  of  a 
cotton  factor,  is  here  with  us  from  his  home  in  the 
city  of  Norfolk,  Virginia,  and  I  now  have  the  plea- 
sure to  introduce  to  you  Judge  Louis  Hilliard.  I  am 
pleased  to  inform  'you  that  our  late  Colonel  Gilmer 
is  now  before  you  as  Judge  Gilmer,  wearing  the 
ermine  of  the  Judge  as  courageously  as  he  did  the 
stars  of    the  Colonel.     The   other  of    these  is  now 


220      Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes. 

absent  in  the  active  discharge  of  the  duties  of  his 
commission,  Judge  Frederick  Philips,  of  Edgecombe. 

Ten  of  our  class  are  present.  One  of  these  has 
come  from  his  distant  home  in  Tennessee  to  take 
another  look  at  the  old  campus  and  drink  again 
from  the  old  college  well,  and  I  now  present  to  }7ou 
my  .class-mate,  "William  Bonner,  of  Fayetteville, 
Tennessee.  When  he  was  here  before,  he  was  Wil- 
liam Bonner,  Jr.,  now  he  is  William  Bonner.  Sr. ;  but, 
I  am  happy  to  note  how  gently  the  passing  years 
have  dealt  with  him. 

And  now  let  me  enjoy  the  pleasure  of  presenting 
to  you  my  other  class-mates  as  they  stand  before 
you.  Francis  Marion  Johnson,  of  Davie;  Rev. 
Robert  Henry  Marsh,  of  Chatham:  Dr.  John  Ful- 
lenwilder  Miller,  of  Goldsboro,  and  James  Alves 
WTalker.  of  Wilmington.  I  am  delighted  to  observe 
how  very  well  my  class-mates  are  looking.  I  believe 
we  have  all  gained  flesh  since  we  reached  old  Chapel 
Hill.  I  know  we  have  gained  unspeakable  happi- 
ness. 

1  wish  to  make  a  startling  announcement  before  I 
close.  Two  of  our  number  are  still  unmarried.  I 
will  not  give  you  their  names;  I  will  only  say  that 
they  are  the  very  finest  fellows  in  the  world,  and  I 
now  propose  to  my  class-mates  that  we  offer  a  cup 
of  sold  to  the  one  of  these  that  shall  exhibit  at  our 


Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes.      221 

next  reunion  the  larger  matrimonial  progress.  I  have 
attempted  this  sketch  of  the  class  of  1858,  unworthy 
of  them,  I  know.  We  claim  no  merit  or  distinction 
over  any  of  those  who  have  gone  before  us,  or  who 
have  come  after  us.  We  only  desire  this:  that  we 
yield  to  no  other  class  in  our  devotion  to  the  past 
history  of  our  Alma  Mater,  in  our  deep' and  abiding 
interest  in  her  present  development,  and  our  concern 
and  our  hopes  for  the  future  that  lies  before  her. 

The 
Class  of  /Sjg 

Was  represented  by  Hon.  Mills  L.  Eure,  John  M. 
Fleming,  Esq.,  Rev.  S.  H.  Isler,  Daniel  P.  McEachern, 
Esq.,  Marshall  H.  Pinnix,  Esq.,  James  P.  Taylor, 
Esq.,  and  Colonel  E.  B.  Withers. 

Judge  Eure  said : 

In  behalf  of  the  class  of  1859  we  will  speak  briefly. 
It  was  one  of  the  largest  classes  graduated  at  the 
University  up  to  that  date.  The  period  at  which  we 
were  graduated  put  us  at  the  threshold  of  active  life 
at  the  time  when  the  people  of  the  South  believed 
that  their  equal  rights  under  the  Constitution  of  our 
country  were  in  jeopardy.     These  rights  they  deter- 


222      Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes. 

mined  to  defend  with  their  fortunes  and  their  lives, 
and  the  appeal  to  arms  was  sounded  throughout  the 
land.  Actuated  by  patriotism,  and  with  a  courage 
undaunted,  our  class,  in  solid  phalanx,  almost  with- 
out exception,  entered  the  contest ;  and  in  some  capac- 
ity nearly  every  member  of  the  class  did  service  in 
the  Confederate  army.  Our  ranks  were  thinned  by 
the  casualties  of  war,  and  we  stand  before  you  here 
but  few  in  number.  From  the  best  information  I 
can  obtain,  more  than  twenty  per  cent,  of  the  class 
were  killed  in  battle,  died  of  wounds  received  in  bat- 
tle, or  by  disease  during  the  war.  The  names  of 
many  of  them  are  upon  the  memorial  tablets  on  these 
walls.  And  while  there  is  sadness  and  sorrow  in  our  • 
hearts  at  their  loss  so  early  in  manhood,  still  we 
have  the  proud  satisfaction  of  knowing  that  their 
memory  is  safe.  Their  gallant  deeds  in  battle,  and 
noble  sacrifice  of  life,  have  enshrined  their  memories 
in  the  hearts  of  a  grateful  people,  and  these  memories 
will  ever  remain  fresh,  so  long  as  the  people  of  this 
South-land  shall  remember  to  love  virtue,  practise 
justice,  and  have  the  courage  to  defend  civil  and 
religious  liberty.  Many  of  our  class  have  attained 
high  distinction  in  the  learned  professions,  and  we 
regret  to  say  that  the  brightest  of  these  have  gone  to 
premature  graves.  We  call  to  mind  an  incident  in 
our  college  life    which    deserves   mention.     During 


Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes.      223 

our  Senior  year,  we  think,  some  students,  possibly  of 
the  bad  kind,  like  my  friend  Colonel  Kenan's  class, 
excited  by  some  imaginary  wrong  done  them  by  the 
Faculty,  avenged  themselves  by  burning  the  benches 
taken  from  the  recitation  rooms,  and,  I  think,  by 
burning  the  belfry.  These  outrages  were  condemned 
by  the  more  orderly  class  of  students,  and  through 
the  efforts  of  our  class  in  the  literary  societies  mea- 
sures were  adopted  to  discourage  the  destruction  of 
college  property,  and  the  disgraceful  act  was  never 
repeated. 

As  to  the  future  of  our  Alma  Mater  our  class- 
mates feel  the  most  profound  interest,  There  may 
be  some  objections  to  the  University  in  some  sections, 
arising  from  rivalry  or  slight  prejudices,  as  there 
always  have  been.  These  must  be  met  by  her  friends, 
and  especially  by  the  Alumni,  with  moderation  and 
sound  reason.  The  record  of  her  Alumni  for  the 
past  century;  their  great  deeds  in  shaping  the  des- 
tiny of  a  great  State;  their  efforts  in  promoting  our 
entire  educational  system;  the  renown  they  have 
attained  in  every  vocation  in  almost  every  State; 
the  paramount  necessity  for  sustaining,  without  stint, 
the  broadest  facilities  for  the  highest  possible  educa- 
tional attainments,  must  be  presented  to  our  people. 
When  this  is  done,  we  have  the  abiding  faith  that 
the  intelligence  and  patriotism  of  our  citizens  will 


224     Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes. 

lead  them  to  realize  the  necessity  for  a  great  Uni- 
versity in  North  Carolina,  and  secure  for  it  that  sup- 
port which  will  enable  it  to  achieve  even  greater 
triumphs  in  the  coming  century  than  it  has  in  the 
past.  For  the  accomplishment  of  this  our  class- 
mates pledge  their  most  earnest  efforts. 

The 
Class  of  1S60 

Was  represented  by  Capt.  W.  T.  Allen,  A.  S.  Bar- 
bee,  Esq.,  Capt.  W.  H.  Borden,  Col.  E.  J.  Hardin  and 
Capt.  R.  P.  Howell. 

Captain  Allen  said : 

After  an  absence  of  twenty-nine  most  eventful 
years,  we  re-assemble  to  join  with  you  on  this  centen- 
nial anniversary.  Our  class  numbered  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty-one  matriculates,  and  represented 
every  Southern  and  some  of  the  Western  States  — 
ninety-five  of  whom  graduated. 

Is  it  not  surprising,  out  <  f  so  large  a  class,  that 
there  are  only  six  of  us  present  to  enjoy  this  reunion 
and  participate  in  these  pleasant  exercises?  But  look 
at  these  tablets,  and  you  learn  a  sad  story.  Ours 
was  the  last  to  graduate  before  the  war,  and,  before 
we   could  settle  down  to  any  special  vocation,  our 


Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes.      225 

noble  boys,  true  to  the  principles  which  they  had,  in 
a  great  measure,  imbibed  here,  wanting  to  discharge 
the  full  duty  of  American  citizens,  regardless  of  any 
other  consideration  but  that  of  duty,  went  forward 
as  brave  soldiers  to  sacrifice  their  young  and  prom- 
ising lives  upon  the  altar  of  their  country.  Our 
class  furnished  more  soldiers'  and  lost  more  lives, 
probably,  than  any  other.  While  we  do  not  boast, 
like  some  preceding  classes,  of  furnishing  the  greatest 
number  of  men  who  have  risen  high  in  legal,  scien- 
tific and  political  eminence,  we  can  refer  with  pride 
to  such  men  as  E.  J.  Hale  (who  sends  greeting  to; 
this  body  to-day  by  telegram  from  Manchester),  and 
others,  occupying  high  social  and  responsible  posi- 
tions, who  are  honored  members  of  this  class. 

But  on  the  list  of  the  Confederate  dead  are  the 
names  of  those  who  could  have  adorned  any  posi- 
tion to  which  they  might  have  been  called.  First, 
you  notice  the  name  of  Junius  C.  Battle,  a  brother  of 
the  honored  President  of  this  University,  graduating 
with  the  first  distinction,  and  possessing  all  the  ele- 
ments of  success,  and  surrounded  by  every  advan- 
tage and  encouragement  for  promotion  —  scarcely 
twenty  years  old.  It  looks  too  sad  that  a  life  of  such 
promised  usefulness  should  be  lost  on  the  threshold  of 
its  manhood.  There  are  others,  whom  we  can  not 
enumerate,  who  would  have  honored  society  and 
15 


226      Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes. 

made  the  world  better  by  their  lives.  But,  old  com- 
rades, all  of  you,  wherever  you  are,  be  you  living 
or  dead,  we  will  always  love  every  member  of  the 
class  of  1860. 

The 
Class  of  1 86 1 

Was  represented  by  Capt.  Calvin  Barnes,  E.  G. 
Brodie,  Esq.,  Capt.  George  B.  Bullock,  Capt.  John  D. 
Currie,  Hon.  Thomas  D.  Johnston,  Col.  James  G. 
Kenan,  Col.  J.  Turner  Morehead,  James  Parker,  Esq., 
and  Joshua  G.  Wright,  Esq. 

Hon.  Thomas  D.  Johnston  said  : 

The  history  of  the  class  of  1861 — which,  by  the 
partiality  of  its  members  now  present,  I  am  desig- 
nated to  represent  on  this  occasion — up  to  the  date  of 
its  graduation,  is  but  a  counterpart  of  the  history  of 
those  preceding  it, 

We  were  actuated  during  our  course  at  the  Univer- 
sity by  the  same  ambitions;  inspired  by  the  same 
hopes;  engaged  in  the  same  generous  rivalry  for  the 
honors;  had  our  proportion  of  disappointments,  and 
enjoyed  a  due  share  of  the  pleasures  incident  to  col- 
lege life  common  to  all  the  other  classes ;  and  the 
friendships  then  formed  constitute  the  basis  of  the 


Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes.      227 

great  pleasure  which  this  happy  reunion  has  afforded 
to  the  few  survivors  who  attend  this  centennial  anni- 
versary. 

But  from  the  date  of  its  graduation  in  June,  18(51, 
during  the  dark  days  of  the  history  of  the  State  and  of 
the  University,  the  history  of  the  class  is  literally  writ- 
ten in  the  blood  of  its  members.  It  is  essentially  the 
war-class  of  the  University.  It  forms,  indeed,  the 
key-stone  of  that  glorious  arch  which  spans  the  most 
trying  epoch  of  our  State,  reaching  from  the  time 
when  our  University  was  at  the  zenith  of  its  prosper- 
ity to  the  date  which  marks  its  most  gloomy  period, 
and  to-day  stands  as  a  monument  to  the  undaunted 
valor  of  her  devoted  and  patriotic  sons.  The  echoes 
of  the  speeches  of  its  eighty-seven  graduates  had  not 
died  away  in  yonder  hallowed  chapel,  ere  the  thunder - 
ings  from  the  belching  cannon  and  rattling  musketry 
from  the  battle-field  of  Bethel  were  wafted  across 
the  borders  of  our  beloved  State,  and  announced  that 
the  first  victory  of  the  late  unfortunate  war  had  been 
won  by  the  bravery  and  steadfastness  of  North  Car- 
olina's devoted  sons.  In  response  to  the  call  of  their 
country,  these  eighty-seven  young  men,  almost  before 
the  ink  was  dry  upon  the  parchments  which  enrolled 
them  as  alumni  of  this  University,  were  enrolled  as 
volunteer  soldiers  of  the  Confederate  army.  Many 
of  them  did  not  reach  their  homes  after  graduating 
before  they  enlisted,  and  all,  without  a  single  excep- 


228      Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes. 

tion,  so  far  as  we  can  ascertain,  promptly  entered  the 
ranks  of  the  country's  defenders,  and  from  that  date 
to  the  close  of  the  war  the  history  of  their  lives  is 
indeed  a  bright  and  shining  record  of  valor  and  hero- 
ism. It  is  so  closely  interwoven  with  the  history  of 
the  State,  the  gallant  deeds  of  whose  brave  sons 
illustrated  on  so  many  bloody  fields,  not  alone  Spar- 
tan valor,  but  indeed  what  is  more,  North  Carolina 
courage,  that  the  historian  who  truthfully  portrays 
North  Carolina's  part  in  that  dreadful  struggle  of 
four  years,  will,  of  necessity,  write  also  the  history  of 
this  class.  On  almost  every  battle-field,  from  the 
rolling  plains  of  the  first  Manassas  through  the  vari- 
ous bloody  conflicts  of  Williamsburg,  Seven  Pines, 
Malvern  Hill,  Second  Manassas,  Sharpsburg,  Get- 
tysburg, the  Wilderness,  and  the  hundred  other  scenes 
of  carnage  which  mark  almost  every  spot  of  Virginia 
soil  in  the  Eastern  campaign,  as  well  as  the  many 
equally  fierce  and  glorious  fields  of  the  West,  from 
disastrous  Fishing  Creek  to  Atlanta,  the  class  of  1861 
was  represented  by  some  of  its  members.  But  should 
I  be  asked  for  the  evidence  of  the  patriotism  and 
courage  of  my  class,  I  point  with  peculiar  but  mourn- 
ful pride  to  the  roll  of  honor  of  the  two  hundred  and 
sixty  alumni  who  gave  their  lives  to  their  country, 
which  adorns  the  walls  of  this  Memorial  Hall,  where 
are  enrolled  the  names  of  more  than  one-third  of  the 


Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes.      229 

eighty-seven  who  left  this  rostrum  in  1861  to  do  bat- 
tle for  their  section.  Upon  that  sacred  roll  is  written 
the  names  of  thirty  of  our  class-mates,  whose  memo- 
ries will  ever  be  cherished  by  us,  their  survivors,  and 
throughout  the  borders  of  our  State  will  their  exam- 
ples of  heroism  be  pointed  to  with  pride  by  all  com- 
ing generations.  "Si  quasris  monument  am,  circwm- 
spice."  I  will  be  pardoned  if  I  specially  mention  the 
name  of  that  brave  and  gallant  soldier,  Col.  John 
Jones,  of  Caldwell  county,  who  fell  at  the  head  of  his 
regiment  leading  his  equally  brave  comrades  to 
the  fierce  struggle.  Of  him  it  was  said  by  his  com- 
manding general,  that  he  was  "  worth  his  weight  in 
gold. "  His  various  deeds  of  daring  and  courage 
which  made  him  conspicuous  as  a  soldier  and  leader, 
will  be  recorded  in  his  country's  history.  His  career 
is  but  the  counterpart  of  the  career  of  all  the  other 
noble  dead  of  our  class. 

But  it  is  not  alone,  sir,  to  this  roll  of  our  dead  class- 
mates—glorious and  sacred  as  it  is — that  we  point 
for  evidence  of  our  devotion  to  our  State.  It  is  with 
equal  and  just  pride  that  I  mention  here  the  astound- 
ing fact  that  the  eleven  men  who  stand  before  you 
the  representatives  of  our  class,  bear  upon  their 
bodies  the  marks  of  twexty-fivk  honorable  wounds, 
received  in  the  battles  of  the  late  war.  This  is  a 
living  speaking  evidence  that  the  class  of  1SG1  was, 


230      Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes. 

indeed,  the  war-class  of  this  institution.  But,  Mr. 
Chairman,  it  is  not  alone  in  war  that  this  class  has 
become  memorable  for  its  patriotic  services.  The 
remnant  who  survived  the  struggle  returned  to  their 
devastated  homes,  and  faithfully  acted  their  part  in 
building  up  the  waste  places  of  the  State.  Debarred 
for  a  number  of  years  by  the  political  situation  which 
immediately  succeeded  the  termination  of  hostilities, 
and  which  was  forced  upon  them  by  a  course  of 
events  over  which  they  could  exercise  no  control, 
they  quietly,  but  manfully,  performed  their  parts  as 
citizens,  sharing  in  the  deep  humiliation  visited  upon 
a  prostrate  and  helpless  section.  As  soon,  however, 
as  time  brought  about  a  better  condition  of  affairs, 
and  they  were  permitted  to  assist  in  shaping  the 
policy  of  the  State,  they  again  came  to  her  rescue, 
and  in  the  civil  positions  of  State  and  National  leg- 
islators, judges,  executive  officers,  &c,  a  due  propor- 
tion of  its  members  have  received  high  honors  at 
the  hands  of  their  fellow-citizens :  and  in  these  various 
positions  they  have  all  been  found  in  the  front  rank, 
doing  their  full  measure  of  duty. 

In  conclusion,  Mr.  Chairman,  it  is  with  becoming 
pride  that  we  challenge  comparison  with  any  other 
class  which  has  graduated  from  this  University. 


Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes.      231 

The 

Class  of  1S62 

Was  represented  by  Marsden  Bellamy,  Esq.,  Col. 
Joseph  A.  Haywood,  Hon.  Thomas  G.  Skinner  and 
H.  C.  Wall,  Esq. 

Hon.  Thomas  G.  Skinner  presented  the  class  in  a 
few  words. 

The 

Class  of  1S63 

Was  represented  by  Rev.  Dr.  John  K  Carroll,  W. 
N.  Mebane,  Esq.,  and  W.  M.  Watkins,  Esq. 
Dr.  Carroll  said: 

The  class  of  Alumni  born  to  Alma  Mater  in  1863 
was  small  in  numbers.  There  were  only  eight  of  us. 
But  let  not  the  larger  classes  of  preceding  years  look 
down  with  contempt  upon  us,  for  they  must  remem- 
ber that  '03  was  not  a  good  year  for  University  boys. 
"  Never  in  the  tide  of  time,"  said  Governor  Swain  in 
that  year,  "  has  there  been  such  a  cloud  overhang- 
ing the  University." 

The  class  which  had  started  in  '59  with  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty  Freshmen,  had  dwindled  down  to 


232      Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes. 

eight  during  the  Senior  year,  and  as  I  stood  in  the 
old  chapel  to-day,  it  did  not  require  a  stretch  of  my 
imagination  to  hear  dear  old  Mr.  Fetter  calling  the 
roll — "Argo,  Broyles,  Carr,  Carroll,  Hines,  Marshall, 
Q,uarles,  Watkins."  Of  this  class  there  are  six  sur- 
viving. Hines  sickened  and  died  not  long  after  the 
close  of  the  war  ;  Quarles,  impersonation  of  modesty, 
gentleness  and  inoffensiveness,  was  stricken  down  in 
wanton  violence,  by  a  bully,  upon  the  streets  of 
Waco,  Texas.  Of  the  survivors,  Argo  is  a  popular 
lawyer  in  Raleigh ;  Broyles  is  said  to  be  somewhere 
in  Tennessee;  Carr  is  a  successful  farmer  and  mer- 
chant in  his  native  county  of  Pitt;  Marshall  is  the 
popular  pastor  of  Christ  Church  in  Raleigh;  and 
Watkins,  who  stands  by  my  side,  is  a  prosperous  and 
happy  tobacconist  in  his  native  town  of  Milton.  He 
and  I,  as  the  representatives  of  the  graduates  of  '(33, 
and  Mr.  Mebane,  who  left  the  class  at  an  earlier 
period  for  the  war,  tender  to  our  Alma  Mater  our  con- 
gratulations on  this  delightful  reunion  of  her  sons. 
We  are  in  fullest  sympathy  with  this  centennial  occa- 
sion; and  join  heartily  in  the  rejoicings  that  are 
enkindled  by  the  touching  reminiscences  of  the  past, 
and  the  inspiring  hopes  of  the  future.  But  recog- 
nizing the  fact  that  the  lateness  of  the  hour  forbids 
extended  remarks,  we  restrain  the  disposition  to 
indulge    in    them.      We    content    ourselves   with   a 


Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes.      233 

single  word  to  those  who  came  before  us,  and  to  those 
who  come  after  us.  We  address  ourselves  to  our 
seniors  with  assurances  of  our  fraternal  regards.  We 
mark  with  tender  solicitude  their  rapidly  thinning- 
ranks,  their  gradually  whitening  locks  and  stooping 
forms,  and  devoutly  pray  for  them  a  green  and 
happy  old  age,  and  an  abundant  entrance  into  the 
better  land  when  the  summons  shall  come  for  them 
to  go  hence. 

To  our  juniors  we  turn  with  all  the  authority 
which  seniority  confers,  and  admonish  them  to 
double  their  diligence  in  the  service  of  Alma  Mater. 
Into  their  hands,  in  great  part,  her  interests  must  be 
committed,  and  if  she  shall  ever  attain  the  distinc- 
tion so  earnestly  coveted  for  her,  it  must  be  largely 
through  their  instrumentality.  A  sacred  trust  is 
passing  into  their  keeping — one  fraught  with  great 
honor  to  themselves  and  with  incalculable  good  to 
North  Carolina,  and  to  the  world  at  large.  Let  them 
guard  it  with  undying  devotion.  And  when,  down 
the  stream  of  time,  disgorging  its  waters  into  the 
vast  ocean  of  eternity,  we  all  shall  have  floated  and 
been  forgotten,  may  larger  and  better  classes  of 
Alumni  be  born  to  Alma  Mater  year  after  year  in  the 
coming  centuries — Alumni  who  shall  promptly  and 
gladly  rise  up  and  call  her  blessed,  and  by  their 
devoted  services  gather  around  her  head  a  halo  of 


'234     Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes. 

glory  which  shall  pale  only  in  the  reflected  light  of 
eternity. 

The 
Class  of  186-4. 

Was  represented  by  A.  M.  Boozer,  Esq.,  Hon.  Wal- 
ter Clark,  William  A.  Guthrie,  Esq..  W.  R.  Kenan, 
Esq.,  and  Capt.  Octavius  A.  Wiggins. 

Mr.  Guthrie  presented  the  class  briefly. 

The 
Class  of  1863 

Was  represented  by  Henry  A.  London,  Esq.,  who 
said: 

I  much  regret  that  I  am  the  only  representative 
present  of  the  class  of  1865,  which  may  aptly  be 
called  the  "  war  class,"'  having  been  the  first  to 
matriculate  after  the  beginning  of  the  war,  and  the 
first  to  graduate  after  its  close. 

■Just  after  the  Confederate  victory  at  Manassas, 
when  the  star  of  the  young  Confederacy  had  emerged 
with  such  brilliancy  in  the  firmament  of  nations, 
about  fifty  youths  of  our  State,  buoyant  with  bright 


Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes.      235 

hopes,  and  yet,  fearful  lest  the  war  should  close 
before  they  could  take  part  therein,  matriculated 
at  the  University  and  entered  the  Freshman  class. 
The  history  of  that  class  is  similar  to  the  history 
of  the  Confederate  States,  and  is  marked  by  the 
varying  fortunes  of  war.  As  the  war  progressed, 
and  the  contending  armies  drew  nearer,  the  mem- 
bers of  that  class,  one  after  another,  enlisted  in 
the  depleted  ranks  of  their  struggling  country- 
men, and,  leaving  the  quiet  shades  of  their  Alma 
Mater,  went  forth  like  men  (though  only  boys)  to  do 
and  to  die  for  "God  and  their  native  land"  —  until 
finally,  when  the  star  of  the  Confederacy  had  for- 
ever sunk  in  the  darkness  of  disaster  and  defeat, 
there  remained  only  one  member  of  that  once  buoy- 
ant band  who  had  gone  through  the  entire  college 
curriculum. 

The  lateness  of  the  hour  and  your  exhausted 
patience  will  not  permit  my  giving  a  detailed  history 
of  the  class  of  1S65,  or  a  mention  of  many  of  the 
exciting  incidents  of  college  life  during  the  troub- 
lous and  dark  days  of  horrid  war,  a  diary  of  which 
I  kept  at  the  time,  and  still  have.  The  catalogue  of 
1863  and  '64  shows  that  the  number  of  students  then 
enrolled  was  only  seventy-nine.  By  the  earnest 
appeals  and  persistent  efforts  of  Governor  Swain,  the 
Confederate  authorities  exempted  from  conscription 


236     Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes. 

until  1864  the  few  members  of  the  two  higher 
classes  who  were  liable  to  military  duty.  He  urged 
upon  President  Davis  that  "  the  seed-corn  must  not  be 
ground  up,"  and  through  the  self-sacrificing  efforts 
of  himself  and  all  the  members  of  the  Faculty,  the 
University  was  kept  open  during  the  entire  war,  and 
even  when  Sherman's  soldiers  entered  Chapel  Hill 
in  April,  1865,  there  were  still  some  ten  or  twelve 
boys  pursuing  their  studies.  During  all  those  days 
of  bloodshed  and  carnage  —  when  in  the  distance 
might  be  heard  the  boom  of  cannon  and  the  burst- 
ing of  shells  —  yonder  old  bell  daily  sounded  its 
summons  to  recitations  and  prayers! 

In  the  latter  part  of  1864  duty  called  me  away 
from  the  quiet  life  of  a  college  student  to  share  the 
hardships  and  dangers  of  the  "tented  field  ";  and  on 
my  return  home  from  Appomattox  Court  House,  I  and 
other  members  of  the  Senior  class  were  notified  by 
Governor  Swain  that  he  would  grant  us  diplomas  as 
regular  graduates  if  we  would  return  to  the  Univer- 
sity and  deliver  orations  at  the  approaching  Com- 
mencement, Only  four  of  the  class  appeared  in 
response  to  this  notification,  and  some  of  them  under 
much  difficulty — it  falling  to  my  lot  to  travel  on  foot 
the  greater  part  of  my  journey  to  Chapel  Hill.  The 
audience  to  which    our   graduating   addresses  were 


Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes.      237 

delivered,  consisted  chiefly  of  visitors  from  the 
North — soldiers  of  the  Federal  army. 

Those  four  graduates  are  now  scattered  on  two 
continents — one  residing  in  the  city  of  Paris,  one  in 
Montana  Territory,  one  in  the  State  of  New  York, 
and  I  here.  Of  that  number  two  are  ministers  of 
the  Gospel,  so  that  the  class  of  1865  can  boast  that 
one-half  of  its  graduates  entered  the  sacred  ministry! 

In  glancing  over  my  college  diary  a  few  days  ago, 
I  found  on  the  last  page  the  following  entry  :  "  Thus 
ends,  in  all  probability,  my  last  day  at  the  University 
of  North  Carolina,  as  I  leave  to-morrow,  and  in  a 
few  days  'off  to  the  wars  we'll  go'"!  and  the  very 
last  words  there  recorded  express  a  sentiment  that 
has  always  animated  the  students  of  this  university — 
one  to  which  every  heart  here  beats  a  warm  and 
responsive  throb — and  one  to  which  with  sincere 
pleasure  I  now  again,  after  the  lapse  of  twenty-five 
years,  give  utterance — "Hurrah for  Chapel  Hill"! 

It  w7as  now  long  after  midnight,  and  the  roll-call 
of  classes  ceased  at  this  point. 

On  motion  of  W.  J.  Peele,  Esq.,  it  was 

Resolved  by  the  Alumni  Association  that  a  com- 
mittee of  twelve,  with  Col.  W.  L.  Saunders  as  chair- 
man, be  appointed  by  the  President  to  report  to  the 
next  meeting  of  the  Alumni  a  plan  for  establishing 
a  Chair  of  History  at  this  University. 


238     Centennial  Alumni  Reunion  by  Classes. 

On  motion  of  Hon.  John  A.  Gilmer,  it  was 

Resolved  that  the  President  appoint  a  committee 
to  arrange  for  annual  alumni  reunions  on  Wednes- 
day of  Commencement  week. 

On  motion,  the  thanks  of  the  Alumni  Association 
were  voted  the  Committee  of  Arrangements. 

The  Association  then  adjourned.  Thus  closed 
the  Centennial  Reunion,,  one  of  the  most  brilliant 
and  delightful  occasions  in  the  history  of  the  Univer- 
sity. 


Quis  est  nostrum  liberaliter  educatus,  cud  non  educa- 
tores,  cui  non  magistri  sui  atque  doctores,  cui  non  locus 
ipse  ille  rnnl us,  ulii  alitus  ctut  doctusest,  cum  grata  recor- 
datione  in  mente  versetur  f 


LIST  OF  ALUMNI  PRESENT   AT   THE 
REUNION. 


The    following    list    of    Alumni    present    at    the 
Reunion  is  published  here,  though  not  complete: 

1824. 
Armand  J.  DeRosset,  Wilmington. 

1827. 
Paul  C.  Cameron,  Raleigh. 

1831. 
Giles  Mebane,  Milton. 

1832. 

Thomas  L.  Clingman,  Asheville. 
Thomas  W.  Harriss,  Panacea  Springs. 
Richard  H.  Smith,  Scotland  Neck. 

1836. 
William  L.  Stamps,  Milton. 

1840. 
William  Johnston,  Charlotte. 
William  M.  Shipp,  Charlotte. 


240     List  of  Alumni  Present  at  the  Reunion. 

1841. 

Stephen  Graham,  Kenansville. 
1842. 

Rufus  Barringer,  Charlotte. 
William  W.  Harriss,  Wilmington. 

1S43. 
Robert  P.  Dick,  Greensboro. 
Rufus  H.  Jones,  Gary. 
John  L.  Williamson,  Caswell  County. 

1844. 

•James  H.  Horner,  Oxford. 
Walter  L.  Steele,  Rockingham. 
Aclolphus  G.  Jones.  Cary. 

1845. 

Joseph  B.  Batchelor,  Raleigh. 
Leonidas  Taylor,  Oxford. 

1840. 
William  A.  Faison.  Warsaw. 
William  B  Meares,  Wilmington. 

1847. 
Thomas  E.  Skinner,  Raleigh. 
Thomas  Webb,  Hillsboro. 
R.  H.  Winborne,  Barnitz. 


List  of  Alumni  Present  at  the  Reunion.      241 

1848. 
Nathan  A.  Ramsey,  Durham. 

1849. 
Kemp  P.  Battle,  Chapel  Hill. 
William  E.  Hill,  Faison. 
Peter  E.  Hines,  Raleigh. 
B.  W.  Whitfield,  Demopolis,  Ala, 

1850. 
James  F.  Cain,  Durham. 
Joseph  J.  Davis,  Louisburg. 
John  W.  Lewis,  Milton. 
John  Manning,  Chapel  Hill. 

1851. 
Peter  E.  Smith,  Scotland  Neck. 

1852. 
Robert  L.  Beall,  Lenoir. 
George  A.  Brett,  Lotta, 
John  R.  Hutchins,  Chapel  Hill. 
Richard  H.  Lewis,  Kinston. 

1853. 

Baldy  A.  Capehart,  Kittrell. 
Alexander  Mclver,  Pittsboro. 
John  L.  Morehead,  Charlotte. 
Henry  R.  Shorter,  Montgomery,  Ala. 
16 


242     List  of  Alumni  Present  at  the  Reunion. 

John  D.  Taylor,  Wilmington. 
David  G.  Worth,  Wilmington. 

1854. 
Richard  H.  Battle,  Raleigh. 

D.  S.  Cowan,  Wilmington. 

E.  Hayne  Davis,  Statesville. 
John  M.  Galloway,  Madison. 
R.  B.  Henderson,  Henderson. 
Robert  B.  Johnston,  Asheville. 
Oscar  R,  Rand,  Smithfield. 
William  L.  Saunders,  Raleigh. 
John  D.  Shaw,  Rockingham. 
William  H.  Thompson.  Clinton. 
William  R.  Wetmore,  Lincolnton. 

1855. 

Nathaniel  A.  Boyden,  Forsyth  County, 
Matthew  S.  Davis,  Louisburg. 
William  J.  Love,  Wilmington. 
Samuel  Paxson  Watters,  ]\Iorganton. 

1856. 

W.  F.  Alderman,  Greensboro. 
William  H.  Burwell,  Manson. 
Clement  Dowd,  Charlotte. 
Abram  H.  Merritt,  Pittsboro. 
Benjamin  R.  Moore,  Wilmington. 


List  of  Alumni  Present  at  the  Reunion.      243 

1857. 

Alphonso  C.  Avery,  Morganton. 
Robert  Bingham,  Bingham  School. 
Daniel  M.  Graham,  Fayetteville. 
John  W.  Graham,  Hillsboro. 
Thomas  S.  Kenan,  Raleigh. 
John  M.  La  wing,  Lincolnton. 
William  H.  Williams,  Warsaw. 

1858. 
William  Bonner,  Fayetteville,  Tenn. 
Louis  Hilliard,  Norfolk,  Va.     . 
John  A.  Gilmer,  Greensboro. 
Francis  M.  Johnson,  Farmington. 
R.  H.  Marsh,  Pittsboro. 
Thomas  W.  Mason,  Garysburg. 
A.  C.  McAlister,  Ashboro. 
J.  F.  Miller,  Goldsboro. 
James  T.  Moreheacl,  Greensboro. 
James  A.  Walker,  Wilmington. 

1859. 
Mills  L.  Eure,  Norfolk,  Va. 
John  M.  Fleming,  Raleigh. 
Simmons  H.  Isler,  Goldsboro. 
Daniel  P.  McEachern,  Mill  Prong. 
Marshall  H.  Pinnix,  Lexington. 


244     List  of  Alumni  Present  at  the\Rennion. 

James  P.  Taylor,  Columbia,  Texas. 
Elijah  B.  Withers,  Danville,  Va. 

1860. 
W.  T.  Allen,  Oxford. 
Algernon  S.  Barbee,  Chapel  Hill. 
William  H.  Borden,  Goldsboro. 
Edward  J.  Hardin,  Raleigh. 
Robert  P.  Howell,  Goldsboro. 

1861. 

Calvin  Barnes,  Wilson. 
Edmund  G.  Brodie,  Henderson. 
George  B.  Bullock,  Warren  County. 
John  D.  Currie,  Clarkton. 
Thomas  D.  Johnston,  Asheville. 
James  G.  Kenan,  Kenansville. 
James  T.  Morehead,  Leaksville. 
James  Parker,  Gatesville. 
Joshua  G.  Wright,  Wilmington. 

1862. 

Marsden  Bellamy,  Wilmington. 
Joseph  A.  Haywood,  Raleigh. 
Thomas  G.  Skinner,  Hertford. 
Henry  C.  Wall,  Rockingham. 

1863. 
John  L.  Carroll,  Asheville. 


List  of  Alumni  Present  at  the  Reunion.      245 

William  N.  Mebane,  Wentworth. 
Warner  M.  Watkins,  Milton. 

1864. 

Albert  M.  Boozer,  Columbia,  S.  C. 
Walter  Clark,  Raleigh. 
William  A.  Guthrie,  Durham. 
William  R.  Kenan,  Wilmington. 
Octavius  A.  Wiggins,  Wilmington. 

1865. 
Henry  A.  London,  Pittsboro. 

1866. 
Julian  S.  Carr,  Durham. 

1S6S. 
William  H.  S.  Burgwyn,  Henderson. 
A.  W.  Graham,  Oxford. 
Isaac  R.  Strayhorn,  Hillsboro. 
George  G.  Thomas,  Wilmington. 
Charles  E.  Watson,  Durham. 

1869. 

Alexander  Graham,  Charlotte. 
William  E.  Murchison,  Jonesboro. 
Piatt  D.  Walker,  Charlotte. 
Joseph  C.  Webb,  Hillsboro. 


246      List  of  Alumni  Present  at  the  Reunion. 

1870. 
Charles  A.  Cook,  Warrenton. 
Richard  H.  Lewis,  Raleigh. 
George  T.  Winston,  Chapel  Hill. 

1871. 
James  T.  Crocker,  Asheboro. 
Fred.  A.  Olds,  Raleigh. 

1878. 
Charles  C.  Covington,  Wilmington. 
H.  T.  Watkins.  Henderson. 

1879. 
John  C.  Angier,  Durham. 
Kemp  P.  Battle,  Jr.,  Raleigh. 
Frank  K.  Borden,  Goldsboro. 
Richard  B.  Henderson,  Wilton. 
James  S.  Manning,  Durham. 
John  M.  Manning,  Durham. 
W.  J.  Peele,  Raleigh. 
David  C.  Stanback,  Richmond  County. 
Robert  Strange,  Wilmington. 
Isaac  M.  Taylor,  Morganton. 
Robert  W.  Winston,  Oxford. 
Francis  I).  Winston,  Windsor. 

1880. 
Thomas  H.  Battle,  Rocky  Mount. 


List  of  Alumni  Present  at  the  Reunion.      "2^1 

Thomas  C.  Brooks,  Daysville. 
Locke  Craig,  Asheville. 

'  1881.  ■ 
William  J.  Adams,  Carthage.    ■ 
Herbert  B.  Battle,  Raleigh. 
Frank  B.  Dancy,  Raleigh. 
Alfred  D.  Jones,  Raleigh. 
James  M.  Leach,  Lexington. 
Charles  D.  Mclver,  Raleigh. 
John  A.  Mclver,  Jonesboro. 
James  D.  Murphy,  Greenville. 
Walter  E.  Philips,  Battleboro. 
James  H.  Southgate,  Durham. 
Leroy  Springs,  Lancaster,  S.  C. 
John  M.  Walker,  Charlotte. 
R.  W.  Winborne,  Murfreesboro. 

188-2. 
E.  A.  Alderman,  Goldsboro. 
Thomas  J.  Gill,  Laurinburg. 
Albert  S..  Grandy,  Oxford. 
James  G.  Hunt,  Oxford. 
Alex.  W.  McAlister,  Ashboro. 
Duncan  E.  Mclver,  Sanford. 

1883. 
David  S.  Cowan,  Henderson. 
John  McC.  Dick,  Greensboro. 


248      List  of  Alumni  Present  at  the  Reunion. 

Robert  P.  Gray,  Greensboro. 
Edward  C.  Smith,  Raleigh. 

18S4. 

S.  M.  Gattis,  Hillsboro. 

James  Lee  Love,  Chapel  Hill. 

H.  J.  Overman,  Salisbury. 

William  G.  Randall,  McKinney,  Texas. 

Frank  S.  Spruill,  Louisburg. 

1885. 

Josephus  Daniels,  Raleigh. 
Adolphus  H.  Eller,  Winston. 
Oscar  B.  Eaton,  Mocksville. 
Alexander  J.  Feild,  Oxford. 
Augustus  W.  Long,  Spartanburg,  S.  C. 
Berrie  C.  Mclver,  Goldsboro. 
R.  S.  Neal,  Scotland  Neck. 
John  U.  Newman,  Graham. 
Alfred  D.  Ward,  Kenansville. 
Sol.  C.  Weill,  Wilmington. 

1886. 

William  H.  Carroll,  Burlington. 
Charles  T.  Grandy,  Raleigh. 
Luther  B.  Grandy,  Oxford. 
Samuel  S.  Jackson,  Pittsboro. 
Herbert  W.  Jackson,  Raleigh. 


List  of  Alumni  Present  at  the  Reunion.     249 

Frank  M.  Little,  Washington,  D.  C. 
William  P.  McGehee,  Raleigh. 
Pierre  B.  Manning,  Wilmington. 
John  M.  Morehead,  Charlotte. 
H.  W.  Rice,  Richmond,  Va. 
Robert  L.  Stroud,  Chapel  Hill. 
John  F.  Schenck,  Durham. 
James  Thomas,  New  Berne. 
Robert  L.  Uzzel],  Roanoke,  Va. 
Stephen  B.  Weeks,  Chapel  Hill. 
Paul  Wilkes,  Charlotte. 

1887. 
Robert  T.  Burwell,  Raleigh. 
Robert  G.  Grissom,  Raleigh. 
Richard  N.  Hackett,  Wilkesboro. 
Jacob  C.  Johnson,  Johnson's  Mills. 
Vernon  W.  Long,  Winston. 
William  H.  McDonald,  Charlotte. 
John  F.  Mclver,  Winder. 
Joseph  A.  Morris,  Wilton. 
Albert  M.  Simmons,  Fairfield. 
William  S.  Wilkinson,  EnHeld. 

1888. 
Oliver  D.  Batchelor,  Nashville. 
William  James  Battle,  Chapel  Hill. 
Hayne  Davis,  Statesville. 


250     List  of  Alumni  Present  at  the  Reunion. 

L.  B.  Edwards,  Winston. 

James  L.  Foster,  Raleigh. 

Frank  L.  Harper,  Raleigh. 

William  E.  Headen,  Pittsboro. 

St.  Clair  Hester,  Raleigh. 

R.  L.  Holt,  Burlington. 

William  M.  Little,  Statesville. 

Julius  C.  Martin,  Creswell. 

Malvern  H.  Palmer,  Warren  County. 

Benoni  Thorp,  Raleigh. 

Eugene  P.  Withers,  Danville,  Va. 

1889. 

Caleb  G.  Gates,  Rock  Spring. 
Herbert  Clement,  Mocksville. 
Daniel  J.  Currie,  Stewart's. 
Walter  M.  Curtis,  Franklinsville. 
James  E.  B.  Davis,  Pikeville. 
Mills  R.  Eure,  Norfolk,  Va, 
Walter  M.  Hammond,  Archdale. 
Hunter  L.  Harris,  Raleigh. 
John  S.  Hill,  Faison. 
Logan  D.  Howell,  Goldsboro. 
Lacy  L.  Little,  Little's  Mills. 
Thomas  L.  Moore,  Greenville,  S.  C. 
William  S.  Roberson,  Chapel  Hill. 
A.  A.  F.  Seawell.  Jonesboro. 


List  of  Alumni  Present  at  the  Reunion.      251 

Alexander  Stronach,  Raleigh. 
Clinton  L.  Toms,  Hertford. 
Charles  A.  Webb,  Warren  Plains. 
George  S.  Wills,  Greensboro. 
William  A.  Wilson,  Sutherland. 
Henry  G.  Wood,  Edenton. 

It  is  earnestly  requested  that  the  Alumni  of  each 
class  will  interest  themselves  in  collecting  material 
for  a  permanent  and  complete  history  of  that  class. 


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lW€; 


